


Faith

by 18lzytwner



Series: Law & Order SVU Third Series [4]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-19
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-07-08 09:05:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 24,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15927218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/18lzytwner/pseuds/18lzytwner
Summary: When a girl is attacked, two men are caught, each claiming one is the culprit. Who is the real culprit? What are they hiding? Plus IAB and the Feds are out looking for blood. EO





	1. Chapter 1

"We aren't ready to go to trial yet Casey. We just got the case this morning," Olivia teased as the redhead entered the bullpen.

"I wish I was here for that," her friend replied; the look on her face told them something was wrong.

"What happened?" Munch gave her a look.

"Judge Anthony Tuft was found dead in his cell at Rikers last night," Casey said.

"What?" Elliot perked up at that.

"Melinda called me this morning to let me know," the ADA frowned and collapsed into the seat next to Olivia's desk.

"Couldn't have happened to a nicer bastard," Fin shook his head.

"I would agree, except I just got a call from One PP and every one of us needs to be available to IAB," Captain Cragen announced as he left his office.

"They think we did it? The man was in prison," Munch said.

"Melinda said that she believes he was poisoned. She's running all sorts of tox screens to find out what but he has no outward signs of being injured. No stab wounds, no defensive wounds, no broken bones, and it wasn't strangulation. Just a bruise on his face where he hit the floor. The two-seven caught the homicide and Lupo and Bernard are working it. The promised to keep me in the loop," Casey let them know.

"So because he was possibly poisoned, they think we had something to do with it?" Elliot raised an eyebrow.

"They're checking into everyone involved in the case. The Feds are now pissed that we took the case away from them because the man died within twenty-four hours of being in custody," the ADA frowned.

"Good grief," Fin rolled his eyes.

"Well we all know that none of us did this so just roll with it. In the meantime, I believe we have a new case to solve," Cragen steered the conversation back to what they'd been doing before the redhead had walked into the bullpen. Elliot looked over at his partner and could see that she had something on her mind. She looked at him and gave him the "we'll talk about this later" look. He nodded and then turned his focus to the board where they were taking stock of what they had found.

"Keep me posted on this one. I'll see you later," Casey stood up.

"We appreciate the heads up. Take care of yourself," Munch smiled at her. She smiled slightly back before heading out of the building and back to her office.

"So what do we have?" Cragen wanted to know.

"Sarah Rabinowitz, age fifteen, was on her way to temple when she was attacked from behind and dragged into an alley. Good Samaritan, Gus Trism, claims he pulled one, Abdul Terzi, sixteen, off of Sarah. Abdul is claiming that he found Gus attacking Sarah. A patrol officer and his partner broke it up and brought both of them to us. We have Gus in interview one and Abdul in interview two. A bus took Sarah to the hospital to get checked out," Fin said.

"Oi," the Captain heaved a sigh.

"I couldn't have said it better," Munch frowned.

"So who do we believe? Sarah wasn't raped but it would seem that she was about to be," Elliot said.

"Well we either have a young man who is just starting his criminal career or we have a dirty old man trying to pin this on a young teenager," Olivia shook her head.

"What does Sarah say?" Cragen wanted to know.

"She's fairly traumatized and Doctor Huang is trying to talk to her," Fin told him.

"I couldn't even get through to her. Usually I can at least get something from a victim but I couldn't even get her to give me her parents' names," Olivia was upset about that. She wished she'd been able to reach the girl.

"This doesn't add up. She's not actually attacked but she acts as though she has been. Olivia, Elliot, talk to Abdul. Fin, Munch, talk to Gus. We need to get this sorted sooner rather than later," Cragen instructed. Quickly the detectives split up and Olivia and Elliot walked into interview two.

"Sir, I did not attack Sarah. I would never," Abdul said as the detectives sat down on the opposite side of the table. He ignored Olivia, which wasn't much of a surprise given his Muslim faith. Some sects it was common to only speak to men in conversation.

"Then what happened?" Elliot asked. Abdul hesitated. Olivia could see he was internally struggling with something.

"That man tried to attack her. I tried to stop him," he told them.

"Then why is Sarah traumatized?" Elliot wanted to know.

"She's… she's…" Abdul was struggling.

"She's what?" Elliot pressed.

"She's my girlfriend," he said.


	2. Chapter 2

Elliot and Olivia exited the interrogation room and closed the door. Abdul was a minor and while not sure if he was a witness or a suspect, they felt it better to not throw caution to the wind. Captain Cragen had already called his parents and his father promised to be there as soon as he could.

"You think he's telling the truth?" Cragen asked. He'd watched them talking to Abdul from the other side of the one way mirror.

"I'm not sure how they would have crossed paths in order to become a couple, never mind the fact that she's Jewish and he's Muslim," Olivia frowned.

"Well there is a mosque only a couple of blocks from the synagogue that Sarah and her parents belong to. Maybe they crossed paths on the way home from worshipping," Elliot suggested.

"Could be but still it seems like a fairly tenuous opportunity to meet. If they are close enough to walk past each other to worship then how do they not go to the same school?" The Captain wondered.

"Sarah goes to public school while Abdul goes to a maritime charter school," Olivia explained.

"That could be good for us. It would seem his parents are civic minded," Cragen said. They were then interrupted by Kenny Briscoe who walked in with a file in his hand.

"What have you got Kenny?" Elliot asked.

"A file on our "Good Samaritan". Seems Gus isn't so innocent," Briscoe handed him the file.

"He's got a sheet?" Cragen gave him a look.

"Well since he only had his driver's license on him, I figured a background check was in order. The kids had their school ID's and I ran them just in case but they both came back clean. Seems Gus doesn't like keeping his hands to himself," Kenny told them.

"Armed Robbery, Assault, and Public Intoxication. He's one step away from ending back up in jail," Elliot confirmed by looking the file over.

"We didn't find any burglary tools on him and as far as I know, he's neither Jewish nor Muslim, so that begs the question what was he doing in that neighborhood?" Olivia wondered.

"He doesn't live there either so I think that's a very good question," Cragen said. That's when Fin and Munch walked back to meet up with them.

"Gus lawyered up," Fin told them.

"That's because he's got a sheet," Kenny spoke up.

"Explains a lot. So what is Abdul's excuse?" Munch wanted to know.

"He claims that he and she are dating," Olivia said. Munch's eyes almost fell out of his head.

"My guess is that if that is actually the case, they've told no one. Their families and their communities could shun them. It might be best to investigate the dynamics of the synagogue and the mosque. See just how rigid they are. If they aren't so rigid, then we should be able to confirm Abdul's claim in no time. If they are rigid then it will be more difficult," Kenny told them.

"Kenny, you and Munch go to the synagogue. Fin, check out the mosque. Elliot, you talk to the Terzis. Olivia, I want you down at the hospital, seeing what Huang came up with and what her parents have to say," the Captain delivered the assignments and everyone scattered.

Once out of the precinct, Olivia quickly typed up a text for Elliot.  _Men don't typically poison their victims._  She didn't want to get into any more detail than that should IAB want to look at her phone. Knowing that her partner would know what she was referring to, she left it at that and headed for the hospital to visit Sarah Rabinowitz.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hi Sarah, do you remember me?" Olivia asked as she entered the girl's hospital room. Her parents were there and so was Doctor Huang. The teenager nodded and the detective introduced herself to the Rabinowitz's.

"I hear you have the man who tried to attack her in custody," Sarah's father, Efraim, said.

"We have two men in custody but we're still trying to figure out what happened. I need to ask Sarah some questions. She could be the only one who can tell us the truth," Olivia said honestly.

"Doctor Huang has been questioning already. Surely you have enough from him," Efraim was starting to lose his cool.

"As I explained earlier Mr. Rabinowitz, I work for the FBI, and am only on loan to the NYPD. Sarah needs to make a complete statement to Detective Benson for the record," Huang spoke up.

"Please Efraim. We must let them work," Sarah's mother, Bathsheba, urged him. He seemed like he wanted to argue but then heaved a sigh.

"We will let you question her. I think it's time we get some food down at the kosher deli up the street. We'll be back before you know it, sweetheart," Bathsheba smiled at her daughter who smiled back. Her parents left the room and Olivia turned to Sarah.

"I know this is hard but I need to ask what happened," she said.

"I can't…" the teenager finally talked.

"Is this about Abdul? He said that you two were dating," Olivia hoped that offering that information would allow her to feel like she could open up.

"We are. But my parents don't know. His parents don't know either," Sarah admitted.

"So Abdul was trying to protect you?" The detective asked.

"We would meet up and he would walk me to temple and then walk me to near my apartment afterwards. Abdul is protective of me because he worries what will happen should our families find out we're in love," the young girl explained.

"So you don't know the other man?" Olivia wanted to know.

"No. I have no idea who he is. I saw Abdul and was only looking forward when suddenly that was the last thing I remember," Sarah said.

"Ok. How are you holding up?" The elder woman asked.

"I want to see Abdul," she told her.

"I would love to arrange that but I'm not sure that would mean keeping your secret," Olivia pointed out. Sarah's shoulders slumped.

"I will let him know how you're doing though ok?" This made the younger girl perk up a little bit.

"I need to borrow Detective Benson for a little bit. Are you going to be all right to be alone for a few minutes?" Huang spoke up.

"You'll be just outside the door?" Sarah asked.

"Right outside," he nodded. This seemed to relax her and she nodded. Quickly, the detective and the psychiatrist headed outside the room.

"So what do you think?" Olivia wanted to know.

"She had just said she'd seen a friend when describing the situation but I could see why she wasn't going to say anything about Abdul. He's Muslim?" Huang asked.

"Yes he is," the detective nodded.

"Given what I saw of the interactions between Sarah and her parents, I don't see her father taking the news very well. Her mother on the other hand seems like the glue keeping things together; like she's always the voice of reason," he explained.

"I wonder what Elliot is getting out of Abdul's parents," Olivia frowned.

"That would be interesting. Almost as interesting as Sarah's complex mental state," Huang dropped a little bomb.

"What do you mean?" The detective gave him a look.

"I don't think that she was sexually abused but she was definitely abused or is still being abused mentally. She refuses to look me in the eye and definitely never makes eye contact with her father. She is not uncomfortable around men but yet she always acts as though she's under their thumbs. I seem to be the exception but that might be because she knows I'm here to help," he said.

"So now the question is, is Abdul the cause of this or her father," Olivia frowned again.


	4. Chapter 4

Olivia walked into the precinct to find Elliot waiting for her at her desk. She noted that Munch and Fin were not there and it appeared that neither one of their suspects were either. Cragen came out of his office before she had a chance to say anything to her partner and said,

"You two might as well head home. We're not getting anywhere tonight."

"What happened?" Olivia asked.

"Gus's lawyer showed up and we had to let him go. We have no physical evidence and basically it's a he said, he said. If Sarah had seen her attacker perhaps we could have charged Gus," the Captain frowned.

"What about Abdul?" She wanted to know.

"He didn't do anything wrong and I sent him home with his parents. According to Munch, Kenny, and Fin, neither the synagogue nor the mosque are so hard core that they would shun the teenagers. Though they were all quick to point out just because the Rabbi and the Imam wouldn't have an issue doesn't mean that all of the worshippers would be so open to such a relationship," Cragen said.

"So we're just letting Gus wander the streets? And we're not concerned that Abdul and Sarah could become targets?" Olivia was concerned given the ex-con's record and the fact that despite everyone's best efforts the two teenagers' secret might come out.

"Not exactly. Fin and Munch are with his parole officer and they are serving a home check right now. They're hoping that his parole can be revoked and we can get him off the street for a little while. As for the religion aspect, we can't intervene. Now if they don't find anything at Gus's we have to move on. There are other cases which need our attention," the Captain explained.

"Gus is a predator waiting to strike. We can't just let him walk away," Elliot objected.

"We have no evidence. We need to move on," Cragen was firm and turned around, heading back into his office.

"This blows," Elliot shook his head.

"Sarah needs help still. Huang thinks she's being mentally abused. I think a call to Children's Services might be in order," Olivia said.

"You don't have any proof that it's her parents. It could be Abdul or it could be another family member we haven't met," he told her, heading for the coat rack.

"Then we should do a little more digging and find out what is going on with her. I bet her mother would open up to us," she said as he handed her, her coat.

"Let's call it a night and in the morning, we'll see what Munch and Fin came up with," Elliot suggested. Olivia didn't seem like she wanted to let it go but she relented. That's when she realized someone was missing.

"Where's Kenny?" Olivia inquired.

"IAB. They want his opinion on the Judge's death," he told her as he put on his coat.

"Kenny didn't even work that case," she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah and I'm guessing Tucker wants him to rat on someone. We don't have to worry because none of us did this," Elliot said.

"Doesn't mean they aren't looking for anything they can use against us," Olivia frowned. Her partner heaved a sigh. They were heading out of the precinct when Olivia's phone rang. She quickly picked it up, stopping in her tracks.

"Benson. Whoa Sarah, slow down. What's happened?" Elliot stopped and gave her a look.

"Ok we're on our way," Olivia promised her. She hung up and turned to her partner.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Abdul showed up at the hospital and Sarah's father lost it," she told him. They quickly headed to the elevator.


	5. Chapter 5

"I detained both of them and then called the local precinct," hospital Security Officer Richards told Elliot. The partners had arrived at the hospital to find officers from the one-five there. They had taken Sarah's father into custody and the nurses were tending to Abdul's injuries.

"What was going on?" The detective asked.

"To be honest, I have no idea. All I saw was an adult attempting to beat up a teenager and I stepped in. I've seen a lot of crazy stuff but this one was one of the weirder ones," Richards admitted.

"How crazy does it get at the hospital? Also how weird are we talking?" Elliot's interest was piqued.

"Crazy enough that if I didn't know the guys down at the one-five better before I took this job, they'd think I was crazy," the security officer shook his head.

"How long were you on the job?" Elliot asked, glad that the man had served. It made him a more reliable witness.

"Fifteen years. Which is why when the guy started shouting in Hebrew at the kid, I got nervous. I became more nervous when the kid just seemed to be taking it. He wasn't fighting back. If I hadn't pulled them apart, I don't know what would have happened," Richards shook his head.

"The kid didn't fight back?" It would seem their first instinct about Abdul was correct. The boy did not attack his girlfriend.

"Weirdest thing I have ever seen. I mean even when it parents and kids, the kids usually fight back. The kid wasn't even his kid and he just did nothing. Sarah was screaming at them though but I couldn't understand because she was shouting in Hebrew," he said.

"Ok. Well I guess my partner and I will try to sort this out. Thanks for your help," Elliot said.

"You got it," with that Richards went back on duty, doing his rounds. Elliot walked over to the hospital room where Sarah was with her mother and Olivia. He knocked and Olivia bade him to enter.

"What will happen to my husband?" Bathsheba asked upon his entering the room.

"He's going to be booked for assault. I would suggest getting him a good lawyer," Elliot explained.

"Bathsheba, if you work with us, we might be able to help the situation. Abdul is bruised from head to toe and has cracked ribs. Why did your husband attack him? Did he say something? Did he do something?" Olivia pressed the woman. She had not been able to get anything out of her up until this point and was glad that Elliot had come in. His presence seemed to be helping the woman understand just how bad this was.

"He attacked him because I told him the truth," Sarah spoke up, surprising everyone. She seemed no longer afraid of the consequences. The truth was out in the open and it was obvious how her father took it. There was a knock on the door and Elliot turned and opened it.

"Abdul!" Sarah noticed it was him from the spot on her bed. He smiled meekly and asked Elliot if he could be let in. The detective nodded and the young man first went to Sarah's mother.

"Forgive me for the trouble I have caused you and your family. I meant no disrespect. I love your daughter," he said, surprising both detectives as he'd practically ignored Olivia earlier. Though with Efraim out of the picture, head of the household duties would fall to Sarah's mother. At any rate, if Bathsheba was surprised at his statement she did not let on.

"You think you two were so clever. There is one thing you must know young man. A mother can tell when her daughter is in love," the woman smiled.

"You are not angry?" Abdul was taken aback a little, expecting full resistance and perhaps more screaming.

"We may believe in two different versions of God but I do not believe either one of them would see the purpose in being angry. Has anyone called your mother? She must be worried sick since I'm guessing you snuck out of your apartment," Bathsheba said. He looked sheepish and said that he'd told the nurses the detectives were calling his parents. Obviously he'd been trying to avoid the awkward conversation that was bound to occur or rather yet another screaming match.

"I will call your parents," Elliot said, pulling out his cell phone and stepping into the hallway. Olivia's phone rang and she quickly picked it up when she saw it was Fin.

"Benson," she answered.

"Liv, we've got a bit of a situation," he said, not bothering to introduce himself.

"Gus giving you trouble?" She was confused.

"He's in custody. It's what we found at his apartment that you guys need to see," Fin explained.

"We're at the hospital. Sarah's father attacked Abdul when he tried to explain the situation," Olivia let him know. She could hear Fin swear under his breath.

"Well then get here as soon as you can. We're going to be here awhile," he said.


	6. Chapter 6

Olivia and Elliot arrived at Gus's apartment an hour later. Abdul's parents had been suspecting something was up with their son for a while and while they were surprised that he was dating Sarah, they didn't seem overly upset. Elliot explained that Abdul had saved Sarah from harm, saying that the other man at the scene was indeed their attacker. Everyone in the room was relieved to hear that Abdul was not going to be charged with anything. However when the Terzis found out that Sarah's father had attacked their son, they had become upset. Bathsheba had expressed her sorrow and regret for her husband's actions and had wished that they could all move past this horrible incident. Derya Terzi had looked at her son, who had not taken his eyes off of Sarah almost the entire time they had been there, and smiled slightly. Her husband, Bahadir, looked as though he wasn't sure what he wanted. It was a lot to absorb and a lot to process. The two detectives had left though, confident that there would be no more physical altercations that night.

"How bad is it?" Olivia asked as the officer at the door let them in.

"Bad," Munch shook his head, having met them at the door. Elliot watched Olivia swallow hard and he put a hand on her back.

"So what made parole violate Gus?" Elliot wanted to know as they moved down the hall toward where Fin was waiting for them.

"Well when we first got here there really wasn't anything that screamed he was doing anything besides attempting to attack young teenagers. When we made a sweep of the place though we discovered a healthy porn stash and…" Munch heaved a sigh, stopping in the doorway. There they found Fin staring at the wall, almost seeming to look through it. Once they had moved inside, they found out why he'd been staring.

"My God there has to be fifteen to twenty pictures here," Elliot said. All of them containing young teenagers in various emotional states. Some looked as though the pictures were taken from a distance, while others were obviously up close and obviously after he'd done something to them.

"Twenty-five and he didn't bother to write their names on them," Fin frowned.

"So what's the plan?" Olivia asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"Cragen says he was going to call Casey. Parole violated him for finding a set of lock picks but according to Kenny, there isn't a lot of time left on his sentence for Armed Robbery. If we want to build a case against him for this, we need to identify these girls and convince them to testify before he gets back out," he explained.

"How long exactly? I'm guess that Kenny is out of talking with IAB?" Elliot wondered since Fin had mentioned him.

"We've got nine months and yes. He says that Tucker was his usual bunch of joy," the African American detective replied.

"Just what we need; IAB crawling up our backsides while we have all these girls to identify," Munch shook his head.

"So Gus was less than forthcoming with who they were right?" Olivia frowned.

"Claimed that they were just pictures he'd gotten off the internet. Except who prints pictures off the internet on actual film paper? He had to have bought stock in Epson because there is no way a local photo developing place would have done these," Fin said.

"If you can find a photo developing place. Since everything went digital it's hard to find a place," Munch pointed out.

"He printed them on film paper so he could… use them more than regular paper. Especially since the images are better quality that way," Elliot hypothesized.

"We better get back to the precinct and see about naming these girls. CSU will tell us if they find anything else," Olivia said. That's when Rich from CSU walked into the room and said,

"You guys better come take a look at this."


	7. Chapter 7

They all walked back out into the hallway and followed the CSU tech into the kitchen. He moved to the cabinets and then popped open what liked like a drawer under the kitchen sink, but was in fact a small series of cubby holes.

"I know we said check everywhere but what drew you to this panel?" Elliot asked.

"Well I was looking for the garbage can, trying to see if maybe he'd left some sort of incriminating evidence in it when I found I couldn't open the cabinet directly beneath the sink. A giant pain in the ass for the plumber should you clog your pipes," Rich pointed out.

"Something the landlord didn't put in," Munch said.

"Bingo," the tech put his index finger on his nose.

"So you tried the drawers," Olivia nodded.

"Right again. The ones on either side of the sink opened fine and from an outward appearance there's no good reason why these doors underneath them wouldn't open. So I removed the screws in the hinges and managed to get the doors to wiggle a little bit and out fell this," he grabbed an evidence bag out of his pocket and inside of it was a small gold cross.

"That doesn't look like something Gus would wear," Fin said.

"A little too feminine for a guy but once it fell out I could see that there was a lock on the small cabinet door," he told them.

"How did you see that?" Munch asked, squinting at it.

"A clever little sticker that matches the color of the cabinets. I shoved the screwdriver into it and I was able to open the cubby hole door," Rich explained.

"What did you find?" Olivia asked. He pointed to a pile of evidence bags on the counter near the sink.

"Good God," Elliot swallowed.

"Close. A mixture of crosses, stars of David, pieces of cloth – which I'm guessing are parts of hijabs, and a few symbols that I'm not overly familiar with," Rich frowned.

"Religious trinkets from his victims," Fin shook his head.

"What makes this guy tick? I mean he has no history of sexual assault yet he's obviously been hunting and hurting young teenagers who are clearly religious," Olivia just couldn't figure on how this all fits together.

"It explains what he was doing in the neighborhood though. He was there specifically targeting Sarah. We need to tear this place apart. He didn't just see her today and decide to jump her. We get Casey to nail him for stalking and attempted assault that buys us more time to find these other girls," Elliot got them all to focus.

"Sarah wasn't in the photos we found so he must have started a second spot to stash them," Fin said.

"How many photos did you find?" Rich asked.

"Twenty-five… Why?" Munch dreaded the answer.

"Because I have more trinkets than that…" the CSU tech swallowed. Olivia could feel the bile rising in her throat. How many more girls would have been assaulted if Gus hadn't screwed up? He'd been flying under the radar this long what if the stash of photos and trophies was just a portion of it?

"Get Kenny on the horn. No way Gus has been this good at hiding his proclivities and then manages to get caught for Armed Robbery, Assault, and Public Intoxication," she spoke up.

"I'll get him digging into those charges," Fin called out.

"Now if I was a pervert where would I hide more trophies?" Munch wondered.

"He picked the kitchen sink before so I'm not sure," Olivia frowned.

"Yeah that is a little weird but this guy is more than weird," Elliot pointed out.

"He only has two trash cans in the whole place – the bathroom and the kitchen so…" Munch let that idea float out there.

"So he gets off near a water source and a trash can. Great," Olivia wanted to gag.

"I found another trash can…" Fin announced, fresh off the phone with Kenny. They all looked up from the areas they were searching in the living room and dining room.

"Where?" Elliot asked.

"Not near a water source," the former narcotics detective picked up the trash can hidden between the couch and exterior wall of the apartment.

"Focus over there," Olivia frowned.


	8. Chapter 8

"So how many did you find?" Cragen asked as he walked back into the precinct that morning. He'd assumed that they'd all gone home at some point. That assumption would prove to be false.

"I need a shower," Olivia said.

"That many?" The Captain swallowed hard.

"Yes but she actually needs a shower and so do I. Seeing as we skipped ours this morning," Elliot filled in.

"Is that why Fin's late?" Cragen asked.

"Just taking his turn in the locker room showers. I was making more swill before heading for a shower myself," Munch said from over at the coffee machine.

"You didn't go home? Guys we have Gus heading back inside to finish his sentence and enough evidence to book him for the attempted assault on Sarah. Things could have waited until this morning," their commanding officer said.

"No, it really couldn't. Liv wasn't wrong about needing a shower. This guy is probably one of the most prolific rapists we've ever seen and he only attacks young teenage girls. Then he keeps trinkets," Kenny shook his head.

"All right. Let me get a cup of coffee. Everyone who needs to hit the showers do so. We'll meet back up here in thirty minutes to go over everything," Cragen decided. Elliot, Olivia, and Munch headed into the locker rooms, while Kenny called the local bakery and ordered breakfast. He'd already had his shower and was now in need of sustenance.

Thirty minutes later everyone was feeling better and had gathered around the board with all of the information on it. Kenny had left a box of bagels for everyone with a variety of cream cheeses and they were most appreciative.

"Ok so bring me up to speed," Cragen said.

"Gus Trism, our friendly neighborhood scumbag, has been convicted of Armed Robbery, Assault, and Public Intoxication previously. At Olivia's urging, I dug a little deeper," Kenny started.

"The Public Intoxication charge occurred after he'd been kicked out of a bar back when he was twenty-one. This would seem to be an anomaly considering what Kenny found next," Munch said.

"The Sergeant is correct. The Assault charge and the Armed Robbery charge were filed at the same time. Guy comes home from work to find his kids tied up and a guy ransacking the apartment. Guy then attacks the intruder who pistol whips him and then punches him in the face before running away. Two weeks go by and the cops down at the five three catch Gus. His guilt is confirmed by all of the witnesses identifying him in a lineup and the fact that he still had some of their belongings in his possession, among them the young daughter's gold cross. Gus pleads guilty to avoid a lengthy sentence. Fast forward to three months ago; Gus gets out on parole only having served nine of his possible ten years in jail. Fast forward to a couple of days ago and he gets busted trying to assault Sarah," Kenny explains.

"Ok so we're thinking that his original intention was to rape the daughter and he got surprised by her brother. He covered his tracks and took his trinket. They'd arrested Gus so why did the father press for him to be charged with rape? He must have assaulted the girl," Cragen frowned.

"If we count her cross in with the others, then we have a total of thirty-five rapes. The bulk of which were committed before Gus got sent away," Elliot shook his head.

"So all of those that he committed before he was arrested are too far gone – the statute of limitations has run out. Actually so is the one he committed while he was busy tying people up and stealing their things," the Captain said.

"We thought we were going to nab him for all of them but once we established a timeline, we found out that most of the cases would not be able to be brought against him. That's what makes the next part so hard," Fin heaved a sigh.

"You can't tell when the rapes occurred," Cragen gave them a look.

"There is no way to tell how long some of the trinkets have been in his possession. Even the photos aren't very helpful since they are mostly close ups after he'd already done things to them. Forensics is trying to work with all the photos to see if they could figure out any dates but so far all they have is reprints on paper. For all we know, he made copies of old photos using a copier. Since they are all on photo paper you can put in your own home printer, we thought we'd get something going through his laptop. Computer crimes practically laughed their butts off when we brought it to them. The thing is at least ten to twelve years old. The only bright spot is that it is still running on Windows XP which Microsoft stopped providing updates for four years ago. If it had been an even older operating system we'd have had to send it out to the FBI for analysis," Olivia spoke up.

"So basically we have to identify all of these girls in order to figure out when they were assaulted. What's the likelihood that they all reported their assaults?" Cragen gave them a look.

"Next to nil. The parents of the victims would not want to admit that their daughters were unclean for marriage. Those that reported it might be less religious than the fervent believers but our guess is that's why Gus chose those victims," Fin said.

"He picked them knowing that out of all the women in the world, young religious girls, would be less likely to report. His victims are probably scattered all over the city, just look at how far he went to find Sarah," the Captain pointed out.

"Exactly. He strayed all over the map which makes him hard to catch even if someone does report it," Olivia could feel the frustration coming on. Most of these girls would never get justice and in order to get justice for those that they still could they'd have to dredge up all the awful things Gus did to the earlier victims, just to figure out that they couldn't be given the satisfaction of knowing their attacker had been punished.

"Ok call around to the other sex crimes units and see what unsolved cases they have that fit our parameters. Maybe we'll get lucky and can avoid talking to all of the girls. Kenny get down to computer crimes and see if they haven't found what we're looking for. I'm getting on the horn to Casey. Fin, you're wanted by IAB down at One PP," the Captain said.

"Great," the detective frowned.

"Good luck," Olivia gave him a smile before he walked out of the door. She turned to Elliot and mouthed,  _we need to talk to Annabelle_. He nodded and scooped up his desk phone's receiver to call the unit in Queens.

"I'm calling Huang. He might be able to help," Munch said.

"Good call," Olivia agreed before picking up her desk phone to make a call.


	9. Chapter 9

"I'm not sorry he's dead so if that's what you're looking for, I can't help you," Annabelle said. Olivia had gone over to see the young woman and her mother regarding the recent developments in the case. Elliot was covering for her back at the precinct, telling the Captain that his partner needed to run home after a call from her landlord.

"I wouldn't expect you to be but I wanted you to be prepared. The DA can't ignore his death and some detectives will be coming to talk to you," she told her.

"Because I would have the ability to get to him in jail?" The young woman asked, her eyebrows rose not believing the detective could believe she had that kind of reach.

"Because they have to run down every lead and that is going to include his victims. I just wanted to let you know and to tell you that they are just doing their jobs. We don't get to pick our cases and despite what he did we have to make sure a killer is not wandering around the city," Olivia chose her words carefully. This was not a time to tell her that they don't get to "pick the vic" as they so often said.

"You could have told us this over the phone," her mother, Louise, pointed out.

"I wanted to see how you were doing. I meant what I said about you needing anything," the detective told them.

"Well we're doing ok for now. Therapy has been helpful for the both of us but this is going to take a long time," Louise said.

"It is going to take as long as it takes. You can't rush it but I know the feeling of just wanting to be better," Olivia smiled slightly. Most of her experiences had been with physical trauma but given the cases she'd worked over her career, she knew mental trauma could be worse.

"We appreciate you looking out for us," Louise smiled back.

"You can call me if you need anything. Doesn't matter what time of day," the detective reminded them. Before anyone could say anything else, there was a knock on the door. Annabelle looked at her mom who shrugged and got up to answer the door. Olivia stood, figuring she'd better go anyway, when she heard,

"I'm Detective Lupo and this is my partner Detective Bernard and we're with the NYPD. We need to talk to you about Judge Tuft."

"Ah yes of course. Come in detectives," Louise invited them in where they promptly bumped into Olivia.

"Benson from the one six right?" Lupo asked.

"Yes. Casey from the DA's office said you guys were handling the case now," she said.

"We are, so mind if we ask why you're here?" Bernard raised an eyebrow.

"I was just checking in. Wanted to make sure everyone was all right. I do that with a lot of the people we've helped," Olivia told them nonchalantly. It was only partially true but she didn't want them to think she was obstructing their investigation.

"Ok if we swing by the precinct later? We have some questions of our own," Lupo said.

"Of course. We'll be there," with that Olivia left. Once out in the hallway, she called Elliot.

"Stabler," he answered.

"I'm heading back in," she said.

"You get anything from her?" Elliot wondered, which meant Cragen wasn't nearby.

"She wasn't upset but I don't see her having the reach to do this. The more I think about it the more I wonder if this is an inside job," Olivia admitted.

"True but you made a good point about women using poison more than anyone else," he said.

"But that also would have been the only way to get to him due to his protective custody situation," she frowned as she exited the building and headed for the car.

"Also a good point. If you're convinced that Annabelle or her mother didn't do it then there's nothing to do but batten the hatches for IAB," Elliot pointed out.

"Oh joy. Fin back from his appointment?" She wondered.

"Yup and Munch just left for his," he informed her.

"Leaving us for last then huh?" Olivia rolled her eyes as she fired the up.

"The best is always last," Elliot chuckled.


	10. Chapter 10

"We're looking for Benson and Stabler," Detective Lupo said when he and his partner came into the sixteenth precinct later that day. They had been sent upstairs by the desk sergeant and now stood in the doorway to the bullpen.

"Benson is at IAB and Stabler is talking to the Captain. I'm Sergeant Munch," the older man introduced himself. The other two detectives quickly introduced themselves.

"Here about Judge Tuft huh?" Munch wondered.

"Yeah not exactly coming up with much either," Bernard frowned.

"Probably a level one cover up. I mean how else does someone get to the Judge when he's in protective custody?" The Sergeant gave them one of his classic over the glasses look.

"Here he goes again," Fin piped up.

"We still have to rule out suicide," Lupo frowned.

"Poison is usually not the weapon of choice of men but he was a high society kind of guy so it is the more classy way," Munch said.

"Detectives, I'm guessing that you're here to speak to us about your case," Captain Cragen had opened his door to let Elliot out and to greet the men who now graced his precinct.

"We are. Detective Benson said we could swing by," Lupo smiled slightly.

"Well she's at IAB right now but you have the other detectives at your disposal. Why don't you start with Elliot?" Cragen suggested. Elliot had just taken his seat at his desk and he looked up at them, wondering just where their investigation stood.

"Thank you sir," Bernard smiled, watching the Captain retreat back into his office. Munch went back to his desk while the other detectives took a seat near Elliot's desk.

"So you want to know who killed the Judge huh?" He asked.

"First, we want to know why your partner was over at Annabelle Tuft's place. She was dodging us earlier," Bernard, a former IAB detective, lowered his voice to ask. He was feeling like there was more top the story.

"Look, Liv has this amazing ability to connect with the victims. She often checks up on them. Annabelle has been through enough to last two lifetimes and Liv wanted to be sure she wasn't harming herself. Plus she wanted to be the one to give them the news, not two detectives who are looking to make a case against her or her mother," Elliot explained in an equally low tone.

"We read Annabelle's file. She wouldn't seem to be one to order a hit nor to actually have the connections to do so but we stumbled onto something that you two might not have known," Lupo said in a regular tone.

"What?" Stabler was beginning to wonder just where this was going. Now Fin, Munch, and Kenny were interested too.

"A court officer by the name of William Jeffson visited Rikers the other day. Now that seems a little unusual but not entirely unheard of if the person being arraigned was stuck in the hospital ward. However, no one was being arraigned that day inside the hospital ward. So we spoke to him about his visit and he said that he was checking up on a friend who'd been sent there on a drunk in public charge. Most of the time with that charge, you pay a fine, and then you move on. When we questioned it, he said that it was unfortunately not the first time his buddy had been busted on that charge and the judge figured he deserved a night or two to think about it. So we did some checking and we know that was a lie because no one had been remanded to custody for that charge," Bernard told him.

"So you think he snuck the poison in?" Elliot raised an eyebrow.

"Could be. It turns out that he worked in Judge Tuft's court before Tuft became a federal judge so we're wondering if he helped him commit suicide or if he had him whacked. When we mentioned his name to Annabelle and Louise they both seemed like they didn't know him," Lupo explained.

"His name is definitely not familiar. How about you guys?" Stabler asked the other detectives.

"Never ran across his name before," Fin shrugged.

"Me neither. Elliot we got something on Gus that you need to take a look at," Kenny spoke up.

"Gus?" Bernard asked.

"Serial rapist who we caught the other day. We're trying to ID his victims from photos and trinkets we found in his apartment," the detective explained.

"He won't tell you the names?" Lupo was confused.

"He doesn't know we know and we'd like to keep it that way. The only reason we caught him was because he was foiled in his most recent attack," Munch said.

"Sounds like you have your hands full," Bernard frowned.

"Oh that doesn't even begin to cover it," Fin shook his head.

"Well if you think of anything, let us know," Lupo said.

"Will do. Good luck fellas," Kenny smiled at them.

"You're Lenny's nephew right?" Bernard asked him.

"I am," Briscoe smiled again.

"The Lieutenant sends her regards," Lupo smiled and then the two of them headed out of the precinct no farther along in their case but they'd managed to give Elliot an idea.

"So what do you have on Gus?" Stabler wanted to know.

"We dug back through the records and found a couple of old addresses that he had before he moved to where he is now," Fin said.

"And I'm guessing that helps us…?" Elliot raised an eyebrow.

"Oh you know, quaint little hell holes of apartments near Central Baptist, Old Broadway Synagogue, and the Harlem Islamic Cultural Center," Munch told him.

"We have dates for when he lived in those hell holes so all we need to do now is hunt down the religious leaders of those facilities and see if we can get some info about the girls," Kenny had a smirk on his face.

"Excellent work guys," Elliot looked down at his watch and realized what time it was.

"It's late. We won't find anyone we need to talk to now. I'm going to swing by One PP and get Liv. Tomorrow morning we'll take Central Baptist. Munch, you and Kenny go to the Synagogue, and Fin, go to the Cultural Center. We'll reconvene here and hopefully we have something we can work with," he said.

"Sounds like a plan," Munch smiled.


	11. Chapter 11

"So what did IAB have to say?" Elliot asked as Olivia hopped into their unmarked car. He hoped that they could get dinner and then head over to his place.

"They were poking around, trying to see if I had any good reason to have the Judge killed. I told them that basically there was a long list of people who wanted him dead and I wasn't on it. Still they used the interview as a chance to make sure that you and I weren't cuddling up together," she frowned.

"Too late. I do enjoy our cuddling though," he chuckled as he pulled the car out into traffic.

"I told them that they wouldn't ask Fin or Munch that question and they backed off a little. Apart from that it was the usual, try and trip you up type of interrogation. Personally, I'm beginning to wonder who did kill the judge," Olivia told him.

"Well so are Lupo and Bernard. I cleared things up with them when they swung by the squad room earlier," Elliot said, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Thanks for that," she smiled.

"No problem. Seems they have a suspect though, a William Jeffson, former court officer for Tuft when he was just a New York City judge. He sound familiar?" He wanted to know.

"No. You think the judge had him get the poison for him?" Olivia wondered.

"Not sure and the guys from the two seven are struggling to prove anything at the moment. Either way I think it's best if you steer clear of Annabelle until this is resolved," Elliot said.

"Agreed. IAB said that they want to see you tomorrow," she let him know.

"After we go to Central Baptist Church," her partner quickly caught her up on what they had.

"So TARU hasn't been able to find anything on the files with regards to the metadata?" Olivia was surprised.

"Gus covered his tracks pretty well. A bunch of the photos were definitely scans of old photos since the computer has them all dated the same day. This means we have no idea when they occurred except that they were definitely perpetrated before he went upstate. However, there are a bunch that he scanned after he came home, and they are all dated the same day again, so there is no way to tell when the photos were actually taken. Once we narrow down the photos we have, we're going to have to start checking the area around where he lives now," Elliot explained.

"How many cases have come in from other precincts?" She asked.

"As we had suspected, there weren't many reports. Only five that matched our MO and Kenny matched only three of the photos – all of them had already run out of time to be prosecuted. The other two didn't match anything we had," he heaved a sigh.

"Well then all we can do is find the victims and see what we can do," Olivia said. Elliot nodded as he pulled into a space near his building. Take-out sounded like a much better idea at this point. They climbed out of the car and headed inside. Once they'd decided on Italian, they were looking at, at least an hour until it got there. Olivia knew just how to put that hour to use as she leaned over her partner from her seat on the couch and covered his lips with hers.

The next morning, the two arrived at Central Baptist Church and found that the building was mostly empty with just a few parishioners sitting on the pews. There was no service scheduled, they were just there to talk to their God and reflect. Luckily, there was one man there who realized the two who had just walked in were not normal parishioners and he approached them.

"I'm Lucas Boyle, church caretaker. Can I help you?" He asked them in a low tone.

"I'm Detective Stabler; this is my partner Detective Benson, Manhattan Special Victims Unit. We need to talk to the Father about something that requires privacy," Elliot said in an equally low tone as they flashed their badges.

"Pastor Reeves is at home. He only comes in for specific events and the usual sermons. Perhaps we can head to his office however and I can try to help you. I've been caretaker for twenty years," Lucas explained. Elliot and Olivia nodded and the older man led them through a corridor off to the right of the room that led to a door, which revealed the back offices for the church. Once they got to the Pastor's office, Lucas unlocked the door with his set of master keys and let them in. He closed the door behind them and took a seat at a table that was separate from the Pastor's desk.

"So what do you need?" Lucas asked.

"We have some pictures that we need you or the Pastor to look at. We're looking for teenagers who might have been parishioners between ten and fifteen years ago," Olivia spoke up as Elliot pulled out a three ring binder will copies of the pictures they'd found at Gus's apartment.

"Well it's a good thing you're talking to me then. Pastor Reeves has only been here six years. He replaced Pastor Stephens, who unfortunately died in an accident, seven years ago," Lucas told them.

"Sorry to hear that. Do you know the parishioners well?" Elliot asked.

"Those that attend regularly I do. We do have walk-ins of course too though," the caretaker admitted.

"We're thinking that the girls in the photos would have been regular fixtures at Sunday services," Olivia said.

"Do I want to know why you're trying to identify them?" Lucas suddenly seemed upset.

"We believe that they may have been assaulted and their religious necklaces stolen from them as trophies," Elliot was honest with him.

"Oh dear God," the man swallowed hard.

"Take your time with the photos and let us know if you see anyone you recognize," Olivia smiled slightly at him.


	12. Chapter 12

"How'd it go at Central Baptist?" Fin asked as Olivia walked into the bullpen by herself. She'd dropped Elliot off at One PP with the promise to pick him back up when he was done.

"I guess that depends on how you look at it. The current Pastor hasn't been there long enough to be inside our date range and the previous Pastor is dead. We had the caretaker help us out," she said.

"Hope you guys had some good luck," Kenny said as he and Munch walked in. The younger man seemed to be in a good mood though to be fair Kenny was rarely ever in a bad mood.

"Where's Elliot?" Munch asked.

"IAB," Olivia told him.

"Hopefully that's the last of those interviews then. So what have we got people?" Captain Cragen had emerged from his office so he could take stock of the investigation's progress. One by one, the detectives posted the pictures of the identified victims.

"So if we exclude the three that Kenny matched up yesterday, we're down to thirty-two total. Looking at the board, you guys managed to get twenty more names," the Captain was glad to see that the victim pool was shrinking.

"We still have twelve that are unaccounted for. That seems like a lot considering that Gus has only been out of prison for three months," Munch frowned.

"Agreed, he'd have to be raping four girls a month. How did he manage to narrow his search inside of a week? We're still missing something," Olivia was frowning as well.

"Not exactly. I took the liberty of running something by Melinda yesterday," Kenny admitted.

"You been holding out on us?" Fin gave him a look.

"I'm not sure it worked. She hasn't called me back," the younger man admitted.

"What did you ask her?" Cragen wanted to know.

"Well I figured that since the victims weren't reporting their assaults that there may be death records instead. If no investigation was conducted or it was like a car accident or something then it wouldn't have been filed with any other units like ours with a report," Kenny said.

"Excellent work," Olivia smiled.

"It's only excellent if it works and truth be told, I'm hoping it doesn't. I mean I would hate to think that some of these girls hurt themselves," he frowned.

"It's not something any of us want to think about but it was still a good idea. It may help narrow our search," Fin smiled slightly at him.

"What else can we do to narrow our search?" The Captain asked them.

"We've checked around places that Gus lived but as we noted with Sarah, the man likes to wander. So that doesn't really help us," Munch said.

"However, we didn't have the photos that we have now when you talked with the Rabbi and the Imam at Sarah's and Abdul's places of worship," Olivia pointed out.

"You and Fin head over to the mosque and Munch and Kenny head over to the temple. Show off the pictures and see what pops up. I'll man the phones in case Warner calls," the Captain ordered. The group quickly grabbed their coats and headed out to their standard issue vehicles.

Once inside the vehicles, Olivia texted Elliot to let him know what they were up to and Fin drove the car. The ride was mostly silent until they reached the mosque where they were surprised to find Sarah standing outside with Abdul. They were obviously having a pleasant conversation and it was good to see the two of them looking happy again.

"Hey guys. How are you?" Olivia asked as she approached them.

"We're doing ok," Sarah smiled slightly.

"Yes, I think we'll be just fine. Have you come to check up on us?" Abdul wondered.

"Actually, we need to speak to the Imam, if we could," Fin smiled.

"Oh yes, of course. Please come in," the young man smiled and then went into his backpack. He pulled out a light blue hijab which matched Sarah's shirt. She blushed as he'd obviously been paying attention to her wardrobe. He helped her put it on so as not to mess up her hair and then extended his hand toward her. She took hold of his hand and they walked toward the door. Olivia couldn't help by smile. There they were greeted by one of the worshipers, who greeted them with the traditional Muslim greeting before letting them in. Fin and Olivia flashed their badges and quickly explained the situation. The man nodded and promised to get the Imam for them if they would please come inside and wait near the front door. Olivia quickly donned a scarf she'd had at her desk so that her head would be covered. It wasn't exactly traditional but she hoped that the Imam would at least be pleased with the effort. They needed his help and they did not need to offend him.

"Detective Tutuola, it is good to see you again," an older gentleman smiled.

"This is my partner, Detective Benson. We really need a little bit of your time Imam Cemal," Fin smiled.

"Of course. Let us head back to my office," he said.


	13. Chapter 13

"First, I must thank you for your help," Imam Cemal smiled at them. They had taken seat in his office and Abdul and Sarah had followed them in. Of course the detectives had expected that but they said nothing.

"Thank us?" Fin asked, giving a sideways glance at Olivia who was just as confused.

"Yes, you helped young Abdul and Sarah out of a tricky situation. I realize that things are still being worked out given what happened at the hospital but with your help. I believe both congregations have learned a lot. Sarah comes to prayers with Abdul and he goes to prayers with her and Allah's message of tolerance is being spread through these young people," the Imam said.

"Well we're glad that we could help. Unfortunately, we need your help for this next part," Olivia told him.

"I figured as much. Mr. Abdul, Miss Sarah, thank you for bringing the detectives in. Now, if we could have the room, I'd appreciate it," Cemal said.

"Yes Imam," they nodded and quickly scooted out of the room.

"Ah young love," he smiled before asking, "How much trouble is Sarah's father really in?"

"Depends on what the DA is looking for. Abdul has already voiced wanting to drop the charges so hopefully some anger management courses and a fine. If not, he'll probably have to go to jail," Fin explained.

"You have to understand, where Efraim is coming from. Bathsheba came to me with Rabbi Tuckman to explain. Efraim lost most of his family in the Holocaust. While his parents met after the war, married, and had him, they only had each other. I'm sure you're familiar with what a child of Holocaust survivors can go through," Cemal told them.

"Regrettably, we are," Olivia frowned.

"When Efraim's father died, he flew his ashes back to the Holy Land. When he was there, there was a bombing by the Palestinians and it just triggered something. Bathsheba said that ever since then he's been a different person. Rabbi Tuckman tried to counsel him; he even recommended a doctor but he couldn't get him to admit there was an issue. Perhaps this is enough of a warning to him to get help," the Imam heaved a sigh.

"Maybe but we actually didn't come to talk to you about him either," Fin said.

"Oh? What else could there be?" Cemal wondered.

"The man who attempted to attack Sarah has turned out to be a much worse person than we initially realized," Olivia opened the folder that they'd brought and handed it to the Imam.

"Do you recognize any of these girls?" She wondered. Cemal flipped through the photos and frowned.

"Who are they Imam?" Fin asked.

"Kelebek Aksoy and Zehra Demir. What happened to them?" He wanted to know.

"We aren't entirely sure but we believe that Gus Trism may have sexually assaulted them. Do they still attend services here?" Olivia asked. Cemal looked like he'd been punched in the gut.

"Zehra's behavior changed last month. I grew concerned but when I tried to bring it up to her parents, they refused to discuss it. As for Kelebek, I'm afraid that she is with Allah now," he said.

"What happened to Kelebek?" Fin was sure that he wasn't going to like the answer.

"Her parents said that she was hit by a car when crossing the street but given what you told me I have to wonder if that is what really happened," Cemal shook his head.

"Can we get Zehra's information?" Olivia asked, knowing that they needed to reach out to Melinda as soon as they could with regards to Kelebek.

"If what you're suggesting happened actually happened then neither she nor her parents will be willing to talk to you. Perhaps we need to call them into my office and then we can get the truth," the Imam suggested.

"To be honest, if Zehra was raped, she is not going to be willing to reveal the details in front of men, especially if she's been told to hide what happened to her," Olivia said.

"Yes I could see how that would be a problem. Perhaps I can keep her parents busy in here while you question her down the hall in the library," Cemal proposed instead.

"That could work. Can you set it up and we'll meet you then?" Fin asked.

"Of course. I will try to set it up as soon as possible. Thank you for bringing this to my attention," the Imam said.

"Thank you for all your help," Olivia smiled slightly and stood up, taking the folder back from him. Fin stood as well and they said goodbye before heading back to their car.

"Call Kenny and see if he's heard anything from Melinda," he said once they got back into the vehicle. She was about to when she got a text from Elliot.

"Swing by One PP. Elliot is done with his interview with IAB," Olivia said.

"You got it," Fin nodded and pulled the car into traffic.


	14. Chapter 14

"Thanks to Imam Cemal, we have identifies two more victims. Rabbi Tuckman gave us a name, Chaya Belkin, so we're down to nine more photos to identify," Captain Cragen announced to the group.

"Well that's not entirely true," Kenny had a frown on his face, something that immediately told those around him, the news wasn't good. He had just checked his e-mail and that was where the bad news was originating.

"What have you got Kenny?" Olivia wanted to know.

"Melinda got back to me. It's as I feared," he shook his head.

"How many?" Elliot asked.

"Including Kelebek Aksoy, five," the younger detective said.

"What did Melinda say about them?" Fin prodded. Kenny grabbed the stack of photos and placed the pictures of the other four girls that were missing of the board. Now they were down to five victims to find.

"I see you got my e-mail," the coroner said as she walked into the bull pen.

"Nice of you to join us Doc," Munch smiled at her.

"Well I can just send files but what is the fun in that?" She asked.

"So I'm guessing the files don't tell the whole story," Captain Cragen gave her a look.

"Not entirely for all of them. We'll start with what you found first. Kelebek Aksoy was in the middle of committing jaywalking when that car hit her. Upon interviewing the driver, the detectives down at the one-five, discovered that she just walked into the street. He tried to stop but he couldn't. When I did my examination of her body, there was no way to tell that she'd been assaulted. Despite traffic cameras and the driver's testimony, her family refused to believe she committed suicide. Her friends on the other hand had noticed a change in her behavior. I ruled it an accident because we couldn't definitively prove otherwise with her parents refusing to admit their daughter had a problem," Melinda explained.

"The Imam said he was told it was an accident but given what the one-five discovered, I would have leaned suicide," Fin frowned. He knew that Melinda had written accident on her report so that the family wasn't upset but he also knew that she was right. It was a lot of speculation and very few leads.

"The next two were actual accidents. Kelly Sanchez died in a car accident when her car was hit by a drunk driver. You remember that truck that slammed into the city bus a few years back? Amy Velocci was the one passenger on the bus that died," the coroner let them know.

"So the last two?" Munch wondered.

"Kathy Philips was killed by her abusive husband in front of their kids. Needless to say, he's upstate doing life. Our final victim, Mary Pearcy, definitely committed suicide. More than one witness watched in horror as she jumped off the Verrazano Bridge," she finished.

"No one could get to her?" Olivia asked.

"Most of them said she just jumped out of the cab she was in and before they knew it, she was taking a header. Her parents told me that she'd been seeing a therapist and they suspected something bad had happened but she refused to open up to them about it. Mary suffered from depression before the incident so this probably pushed her to feel like killing herself was the only way out," her friend shrugged.

"That's just lovely. Any chance we can charge Gus with Mary's death? Or maybe Kelebek's?" Munch wanted to know.

"We'd have to prove that what he did to them caused them to commit suicide and any lawyer worth their salt is going to claim Mary was already suicidal and that Kelebek had an accident," Elliot frowned. Fin's phone rang and he picked it up.

"All right. First, thanks for bringing us to speed Doc. Now what we need to do is to see if we can get Chaya and Zehra to talk to us. They need to be first priority. Munch, take Kenny and see if Chaya's parents will let her talk to you. I know that Fin is waiting on a call…" the Captain didn't get to finish.

"Zehra's parents are going to be down at the mosque in an hour. I need Liv," Fin said as he got off the phone.

"All right go. Elliot, my office," Cragen said.

"Good luck!" Melinda said as she watched the group quickly split up.


	15. Chapter 15

"I do not believe you have been to a synagogue so much lately as you have in the last few days, Detective Munch," Rabbi Tuckman had a slight smirk on his face as Munch and Kenny approached him. They'd been led to his office by a parishioner.

"Nature of the job, I'm afraid," Munch smiled back at him.

"You're doing God's work, so I think he will forgive you," Tuckman replied before offering them seats across from his desk.

"I hope so. Shouldn't Chaya and her parents be here by now?" The elder detective asked. The Rabbi had called them the following morning and said that the Belkins had agreed to come into the synagogue and speak to the detectives. Munch and Kenny quickly set up a time and had travelled down to the place of worship around ten am. The previous night had been difficult as Zehra was most definitely afraid to say anything near her father and trying to get either of her parents to let her out of their sight was hard to do. Finally, the Imam had put his foot down and both parents let their daughter go to speak with Olivia and Fin in the library. After all of that, Zehra didn't seem like she was in any frame of mind to testify against Gus. It was not what they had hoped for but Olivia knew they couldn't push either.

"They are running a tad behind due to the traffic. They said they went to see Chaya grandmother in Queens last night when I spoke to them ten minutes ago," Tuckman explained.

"I mean no offense, Rabbi, but would they lie to you? Perhaps they changed their minds?" Kenny spoke up.

"They are a fine upstanding family but I can see what you mean. Chaya's grandmother, Golda, is in her nineties and they probably didn't want her to hear something from someone else. Or it is possible she isn't doing well. They had to move her into a nursing home last year," Tuckman explained. There was a knock on the door and the religious leader called for the person to enter.

"The Belkins are here, Rabbi," the same parishioner who had let them into the synagogue announced.

"Thank you Levi. Please see them in," Tuckman instructed. Levi nodded and moved out of the way to let the three into the room. The Rabbi quickly made introductions and then offered seats at the table in the corner of his office to Chaya and her mother, Miriam. Kenny sat down with them while Munch announced that he'd take the Rabbi and Chaya's father, Moshe, out into another room.

"I know that this is difficult but I need to ask you some questions about what happened to you. You heard about Sarah right? We think the same man is the one who hurt you," Kenny started. He had a certain charm and was young enough that most victims viewed him as a friendly face and someone they could trust.

"That poor girl," Miriam shook her head. Kenny nodded and looked at Chaya. He could see that she was just sitting there, sort of staring off into space. Internally, Kenny wished that they had known what kind of a monster Gus was before. So many girls were hurt. Slowly, he reached out to Chaya, hoping that even if she wouldn't testify against Gus, she would let him help her.

Meanwhile, back at the precinct, Olivia sat at her desk, staring at the board. They had no physical evidence on Gus, other than the trophies they'd discovered. They had victims who had been going without help. Victims that had been suffering for years and were no without any recourse. They would get no justice.

"So when were you going to fill me in?" Casey asked, as she walked into the bullpen.

"We're struggling to make a case. There is no DNA. The two victims who we can maybe make a case for are reluctant and there are still five more victims that we have yet to identify," Elliot admitted.

"Well then I guess it's a good thing Gus had more time left on his sentence," the redhead frowned.

"Little comfort considering how many lives he ruined," Fin shook his head.

"Agreed but we have a bigger problem," Captain Cragen came out of his office; the look on his face told them something bad had happened.

"What is it?" Elliot asked.

"Lupo and Bernard just arrested William Jeffson and he's claiming that he'll give up who paid him to poison Judge Tuft," the Captain said.

"How is that a bad thing?" Olivia was confused.

"Lupo said that Jeffson implied it was one of the Judge's victims," Cragen explained.


	16. Chapter 16

"So how is Chaya?" Olivia asked Munch and Kenny as they walked back into the bullpen around lunchtime. She could see the look on Kenny's face and she didn't like what she saw. The usually perky man was absolutely destroyed by what Chaya had told him. While every case got to everyone in one way or another, this one was really eating up the younger man.

"Not good. Her mother and father are willing to get her help. It just took us intervening to get them there. I think they were afraid what others in the community might think but they were also afraid of what it would do to Chaya's grandmother, Golda. The woman is in her nineties and her health is declining. They didn't want to have her find out but once we came around it was more like they didn't want her to find out from someone else," Munch spoke up.

"You think she will testify?" Elliot gave them a look.

"She seems like she might be able to handle it after some help from a therapist but of course I say this without knowing how she'd do having to stare down Gus in the courtroom. Even with therapy, facing your attacker is often too hard for adults. A teenager having to admit to the world that she was assaulted and having to stare that attacker down, well we all know how that goes," Kenny frowned.

"Probably the only good thing out of this is that she was attacked the week before Sarah. So her case is viable and is not tied down by the statute of limitations," Fin chimed in.

"Well she is definitely more prepared than Zehra. I gave her a call this morning after you left, just to check in on her and she was glad to hear that I had called but she really wasn't in the mood for talking," Olivia frowned.

"We've started the ball rolling with the two of them and we need to keep that ball rolling but we still have five unidentified victims," Captain Cragen just came out of his office. He'd been on the phone for the last twenty minutes but no one knew with whom.

"At this point, we have to figure of the five that are left, we maybe have one or two that still have viable cases. Since none of the religious leaders in the area recognized the photos, where else do we search?" Elliot was hoping that someone had an idea.

"Well I find it hard to believe that he moved his hunting grounds twice in the short time he was out. Perhaps what we need to do is look into how he got his apartment. No way his landlord held onto it while he was away," Fin said.

"Right? And no way he bothers to build his complex cubby hole in an apartment he just moved into," Munch pointed at his partner.

"He either managed to have someone live there while he was gone or he assumed someone's identity or something," Olivia agreed. Something was off.

"All right. Elliot, Fin, head over to Gus's apartment and see if you can get the landlord to squeal. Munch, Kenny, keep at trying to figure out how Gus could have run across the last five victims. Olivia, a moment," Cragen issued his orders. Elliot looked at his partner and wondered what was going on. Not able to say anything to her, he watched her disappear into the Captain's office.

"What do you suppose that is about?" Fin asked.

"I'm not sure but what was you IAB interview like?" Elliot wanted to know as they entered the elevator.

"Standard bullshit. Why? You thinking they think we helped someone kill the Judge?" The other detective raised an eyebrow.

"They asked Liv if she and I were dating. When I went in, they wanted to know how my marriage collapsed," Elliot frowned.

"I wasn't going to say anything but they were asking about my son," Fin said.

"Doesn't that seem a little outside finding what happened to the Judge?" The other detective wondered.

"They're fishing for something but I just don't know what it could be," Fin admitted.

"I don't either but we had better be careful. Since we don't know what they are looking for, we'll never see them coming," Elliot shook his head.


	17. Chapter 17

"Mrs. Lumbly, are you telling me that you held that apartment open for Gus the whole time he was locked up?" Fin gave the older lady a look from his comfy spot in the overstuffed chair. Both he and Elliot had met the woman inside her first floor apartment, where they moved into the comfortable living room. She had offered them cookies and they couldn't help but try a snickerdoodle.

"You can call me Mary, and Lord, no son. I might be old but I'm not stupid. Gus had been a good tenant and he had nowhere to store his stuff while he was locked up. So I offered him a deal. He let my cousin, Eddie, stay in his place while he was gone and I would keep his stuff locked up in what I like to call the "second bedroom"," the older African American woman said, she had chosen the rocking chair, which both detectives had gathered was her favorite.

"Or what I would call a glorified walk-in closet," Elliot chuckled, from his position in the recliner. The only bed that was fitting in that room was a twin size one, and only if someone didn't have any other furniture to put in there.

"So your cousin just moved out when Gus got out on parole and he never looked at Gus's stuff?" Fin wondered, taking another snickerdoodle off the tray on the coffee table, which was directly in front of him.

"Eddie was in failing health. He needed a place to stay where I could help him and keep an eye on him. I highly doubt he thought about the locked room. Sadly, Eddie passed last year. He lasted a lot longer than the doctors thought though, so I take solace in that," Mary told them.

"Sorry to hear about Eddie. Mr. Lumbly was ok with this deal that you made?" Elliot asked.

"My husband, Peter, passed away before Gus went to prison. I felt bad for Gus, especially since he was always helping out around here. With Peter gone, I couldn't do all the day to day maintenance items and I couldn't afford a full time maintenance man, so Gus filled in when there was an emergency or Jose needed a day off. Now Jose works full time and has a part time helper, Manny, thanks to some of the other tenants who moved out. Once I was able to raise the rent on the rent controlled places, things got better around here," she explained.

"Sorry to hear about Peter. Do you mind if we talk to Jose and Manny before we leave?" Fin wanted to know.

"Of course not. Do me a favor and take them some cookies? The boys just love them," Mary said.

"Yes ma'am," Elliot winked and watched as she went into the kitchen for a plate.

"So he had her completely snowed," Fin shook his head.

"He's good at that. Maybe Jose and Manny can shed some more light on him," the other detective said. Fin nodded as Mrs. Lumbly came back and put some cookies on the plate. The two detectives thanked her again and then headed to Jose's office just down the hall.

"I'm Detective Tutuola and this is Detective Stabler," Fin and Elliot flashed their badges.

"I didn't know the NYPD delivered cookies. Although they look suspiciously like Mrs. Lumbly's snickerdoodles," an older Hispanic man said as Fin handed him the plate.

"She thought you might like them. I take it you're Jose?" Elliot asked.

"Yes I am. You guys here about Gus?" The maintenance man wondered.

"How'd you know?" Fin asked.

"Only guy in the building with a record so I figured you'd want to talk about him, unless I've done something that I didn't know about," Jose smiled.

"You were right the first time. You help him move his things into that small room up in his apartment before he went upstate last time?" Elliot wanted to know.

"He was already locked up when Mrs. Lumbly came to me. While he was out on bail, he boxed everything up and moved it into the room. I had a locksmith come out and install a lock on the door and gave Mrs. Lumbly the key. His furniture, my cousins and I stored in the basement. It's nice and warm in the winter and cool in the summer so his stuff held up pretty good. Well minus the mattress, I threw that out since it definitely wouldn't have lasted," Jose explained.

"So Manny never met Gus?" Fin asked.

"No. Manny started helping out around here about five years ago," the man said.

"In the last few weeks has anyone moved out or seemed like they were in a hurry to find a new place?" Elliot pressed. He suddenly had a thought about those last few pictures. The maintenance man thought about it but shook his head.

"Not to my knowledge. Is there something I should be looking for?" Jose wanted to know.

"Just give us a call in case anything weird happens in the next few weeks ok?" Fin handed him his card.

"You got it," Jose smiled and the men thanked him before heading back to their car.

"Well that was kind of a bust," Fin let out a sigh.

"Hard to imagine that Gus was able to hide things and Mrs. Lumbly didn't realize. The pictures were sitting right in the locked bedroom and the trophies were in the kitchen," Elliot heaved his own sigh as they climbed into the car. That's when he got a text from Olivia.

"What is it?" Fin asked.

"Liv says that William Jeffson gave up the name of the person who paid him," Elliot said.

"Well who was it?" The other detective wanted to know. That's when the next text came in.

"She says Jeffson said it was the Captain. So either he was lying earlier or he's lying now. Either way, IAB is interrogating him right now," Elliot swallowed. Fin slammed on the lights and sirens and sped back toward the precinct.


	18. Chapter 18

"You're going to believe a guy who has admitted to killing the Judge, over me?" Cragen asked Sergeant Tucker of IAB.

"I'm not saying I do but I need to run this down. I've had quite a few interactions with SVU regarding accusations before but you know as well as I do, that the top brass can't have this unit stinking from the head down," he told him.

"I have no good reason to want the guy dead. Not after all the lengths we went through to nail his ass to the wall!" Cragen was still not having it.

"You've been leading this unit for a long time. You've seen some awful things. Maybe this time, you couldn't take it, and you paid Jeffson to get to the Judge," Tucker suggested.

"I don't even know Jeffson! I realize I'm a Captain but that doesn't mean I have money lying around to give a hit man!" Cragen gave him a look.

"We're looking into your financials now. Along with all of the victims, just to be on the safe side," the Sergeant said.

"You have a set on you. Investigating the financials of sexual assault victims," the Captain shook his head.

"And their relatives. Any reason that Jeffson would name you as the man who hired him? Perhaps he was told to do so by one of the victims or their families," Tucker questioned.

"We won the case, so I have no idea why I would be a target. The only thing I can think of is that my name showed up in the papers. Or maybe he'd seen my name on court papers before. This is a distraction. Something to buy him some time," Cragen tried to tell him.

"We've got him in custody. He isn't going anywhere. What could he be buying time for?" The Sergeant wanted to know.

"I have no idea. Did you ever give a thought that maybe, just maybe, Judge Tuft didn't want to spend the rest of his life in jail? He wasn't getting parole. He'd die in there. So maybe he arranged for someone to help him," the Captain said.

"There was no note and no indication that he knew this was coming. He'd have lied down on his bed and waited for death, not headed for the door, like how they found him," Tucker pointed out.

"He could have changed his mind or thought his death was supposed to come on a different day. The fact of the matter is, you have no evidence other than Jeffson. How do we know he isn't covering for someone in his own family? You did say, he worked for the judge for a long time," Cragen told him.

"Lupo and Bernard are investigating that angle," Tucker said before standing up. He cut off the recording device.

"What do you suppose is going on in there?" Kenny asked Munch.

"Nothing good," Olivia answered for the older detective who looked like he was going to have a coronary.

"Munch, you ok?" Fin wanted to know. He and Elliot had arrived well after the interrogation had started.

"You know what's going to happen if they sent the Captain home don't you?" He responded.

"Sergeant Munch to the rescue," Elliot said. They all knew that the elder man would be forced to take over the unit until the Captain was cleared of any wrong doing. That's when the door to the interrogation room opened and Tucker walked out first.

"Sergeant Munch, you're in charge here until further notice," he said. Munch slumped down in his chair. Cragen went into his office and grabbed a few personal items before being heading back out to the bull pen.

"This will all be cleared up as soon as they realize I don't have money to have paid this Jeffson guy," Cragen tried to reassure them.

"This is bull," Elliot said.

"Be that as it may, be good for Munch. I don't want to come back and find half of my detectives are being transferred or have been suspended," the Captain gave them all a look. He handed the keys to his office to the Sergeant.

"I don't want these or this," he said.

"Well until one of your colleagues braves up and takes the Sergeant's exam, you're it. Just don't burn the place down while I'm gone," Cragen winked and then headed out of the door. Silence fell over the group for a few minutes until Fin's phone rang. He quickly answered it and they could hear him say,

"Don't touch anything! We'll be right there!" Olivia looked at Elliot, who could only shrug.

"That was Jose down at Gus's building. He said he was curious after he talked with us and did a little snooping. He's got something we have to see," Fin told them.

"Go, I'll hold the fort," Munch said as Olivia, Elliot, Fin, and Kenny headed out the door.


	19. Chapter 19

"Detective Tutuola! Detective Stabler! In here!" Jose's voice floated up the basement stairs. He'd propped the door open for them so they could come right inside. The four started down the stairs and met the maintenance man at the bottom.

"Detective Benson, Detective Briscoe, meet Jose," Fin smiled at the man and stuck his hand for the man to shake. Jose shook his hand and nodded to the two new detectives.

"Thanks for calling us. We have forensics on the way," Stabler shook the man's hand as well.

"I'm not sure how helpful this is but it's definitely not something you see every day," Jose explained. He led them away from the stairs and toward some apartment tenant's storage units. They were just fenced in rectangles measuring about three foot wide and six feet deep. There was a man standing in front of one.

"Detectives, this is Manny. He came in to cover the night shift," Jose explained. The second younger man smiled and nodded to them before saying,

"Hello. When Jose told me that you were wondering if someone had moved out recently, I remembered that last month, when I went up to Two B, to help with a leaky bathroom faucet, that the teenage girl who used to live there was gone. I thought at first, she was just out for the evening but that's when I realized that there was only one toothbrush in the toothbrush holder. I didn't think much of it, until one day last week, when I found out that Two B was leaving all together," Manny explained.

"I wasn't informed of this until we spoke this afternoon," Jose filled in.

"I thought you knew. Mrs. Lumbly told me before she went to bed that Mrs. Garcia and Lucia, were heading to live with Mrs. Garcia's mother," the younger man shrugged.

"So what made you think Lucia was gone prior to the announcement of them leaving?" Olivia wanted to know.

"Well I asked Mrs. Garcia if she wanted me to help unload her storage unit down here. You know bring it upstairs, to our office. She said that whatever was down here could be tossed out. So I didn't get right to it because no one has reoccupied Two B yet. We're repainting and doing some other items to fix it up," Manny explained.

"That's when he remembered we had to empty the storage unit," Jose said. Manny opened the fenced panel that acted like the door to the unit.

"It's in the box," Jose frowned. The detectives donned gloves and Kenny pulled the box out of the unit. Slowly, he opened the top of the box. He put the back of his hand up to his mouth.

"It's a bloody dress. There's also a ratty pair of shoes…" he was obviously confused.

"Lucia and Mrs. Garcia didn't have a lot of money. That was the only pair of shoes she owned," Manny heaved a sigh. Olivia swallowed hard.

"Detectives?" A familiar voice called down the stairs.

"Down here," Elliot called.

"All right, Jose, Manny, why don't you guys come upstairs with me and Detective Briscoe, and see if you have that new address for Mrs. Garcia. We could use more background info too and to get into that apartment," Fin said as CSU tech Rich approached them.

"But we've been cleaning in there," Jose said.

"Just the same, I left Susan upstairs with the uniforms. She can poke around the apartment," Rich told them. Fin nodded.

"Kenny, make sure you get the uni's to secure the basement and the apartment," Olivia said before the group headed upstairs. The younger detective nodded.

"So what have we got?" Rich asked once they'd left.

"A box full of items that could possibly prove Gus attacked a girl, right here in this building," Olivia said. The tech nodded and made sure to pull on his gloves before touching anything. He photographed the box, the box with the lid off, and the other items inside the storage unit. Then he went back to the box and pulled out the ratty shoes first, not understanding why they were there as there were no obvious signs of blood as compared to the dress that sat next to them.

"Why are these here?" Olivia asked.

"It doesn't seem to make sense, especially if they were really the only pair of shoes Lucia owned," Elliot said.

"I don't think the shoes are what we were meant to focus on," Rich spoke up.

"What do you mean?" Olivia wanted to know.

"There is something stuffed inside of the left shoe," Rich told them.


	20. Chapter 20

Olivia hadn't gotten much sleep that night. Now as she sat at her desk, nursing a coffee, and waiting for forensics to call. Jose had gotten Fin the address and he and Kenny had headed over to the house. Munch was on the phone with Brooklyn SVU to let them know he had detectives working a case that had occurred under Manhattan's purview. That and he wanted to know if Lucia Garcia had come forward to report anything. They had turned up nothing as far as a report in their own neck of the woods.

"Ok, so something makes no sense to me," Elliot said.

"What part? The part where Mrs. Garcia keeps evidence of her daughter's assault in the basement and then tells the maintenance man to chuck it? Or how about the part that the girl's only pair of shoes was found in the pile with her panties stuffed in them? And of course, the last but not least part, of Mrs. Garcia sending her only daughter ahead to live with her grandma but then she stays behind to have the maintenance man fix a faucet, which is shortly not going to be her problem anymore?" Munch asked as he exited the Captain's office where he'd just gotten off the phone.

"Yeah all of that," Elliot shook his head. He moved from his desk to the board with the photos of the storage locker.

"Until we get the results of the forensics and we hear back from Fin and Kenny, we've got a bunch of evidence that makes no sense. In the meantime, we still have five unidentified victims in the photos," Olivia said.

"Well Brooklyn doesn't have any reports of a Lucia Garcia so I suggest that we try and identify those five victims. Now thanks to Lucia, we may have a way to do so," the Sergeant told them.

"Gus took victims that were closer to him before he made the transition to victims who were harder to chase," Elliot agreed.

"Lucia was close to him after he gets out. While Gus is a seasoned predator, he was out of commission for quite a while. Perhaps he needed someone to boost his confidence or perhaps Lucia was just an easy target," Olivia suggested.

"So we need to go back to the records of addresses and see if anyone lived in those buildings that fit the profile of victims," Munch said. Elliot went over to Fin's desk and grabbed the list of addresses.

"Census records might be our best bet given how far back we need to look," he said.

"That'll be a problem since the records aren't available to the public until seventy-two years have passed after the date of the census. I'll call Casey and see what our options are. In the meantime, why don't you see if we can get the previous owners of the buildings? We might be able to get something from them," the Sergeant told them.

"Building owners are public record. We'll see what we can dig up," Olivia said. With their assignments, Elliot and Olivia headed out to see what they could find at city hall. Once in their sedan, as Elliot moved through traffic, he reached over toward his partner. He took her hand in his without taking his eyes off the road.

"You ok?" He asked.

"Not really but I'll be ok when we nail Gus to the wall," she told him.

"I hear you. You know I love you right?" Elliot wanted to know.

"Yes and I love you," she smiled, something she hadn't done in a few days. The case was wearing on them all and little moments like these made it more bearable. What they didn't know was that what Fin and Kenny would find and the forensics to back the findings up, would change everything.


	21. Chapter 21

"So what did you guys get?" Olivia asked as she and Elliot walked back into the bull pen a couple hours later. They had managed to get building owners names and current addresses so now it was time to run each through the system and to contact them.

"Something that you're going to want to hear," Fin said, looking at them from his leaned back chair.

"First, Mrs. Garcia's first name is Sophie and she didn't know anything about the box in the basement. When we mentioned it, she refused to believe what we found in the box. We had to show her pictures and then she broke down and started to cry," Kenny explained. He was seated on top of Fin's desk.

"So the reason she told Jose and Manny to chuck it was because she figured whatever was down there, she wouldn't actually miss," Elliot said, setting down his keys and the paperwork he and Olivia had collected on his desk.

"That's what we figured, especially since Mrs. Garcia then told us that Lucia had told her that her sneakers were finally ones for the garbage chute. She had to put a new pair on her credit card and has the receipt for them. The date isn't long after Gus got out of prison," Fin told them.

"How is this woman paying her rent?" Munch wanted to know. He'd come out of the Captain's office and parked himself at his old desk.

"She was the last rent controlled apartment in the building. Sophie was only paying two hundred dollars a month," Kenny explained.

"Well that explains that," the elder detective shook his head.

"So Gus finally gets the urge after being away from victims in his desired age range and Lucia is just a convenient target," Olivia frowned. She'd leaned up against her desk, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Bingo. Also, she and her mother attended church not far from where Sarah Rabinowitz was attacked," Fin said.

"Ok so has forensics called? Can we actually use the evidence we found since we didn't originally collect it?" Elliot asked.

"Forensics is still busy working on it. I asked Casey about being able to use it. She said since it was in a box and never actually out of the Garcia's control until Jose and Manny found it, we should be able to use it. As for the census records, since we're not on great speaking terms with the US Attorney, she said not to hold our breath," Munch spoke up.

"Good thing we got this info to run down then. So will Lucia testify? We may only need an indictment to scare Gus. If we can charge him with attacking Sarah and raping Lucia, then we could put his picture out and say we suspect him of multiple rapes over a period of time. Maybe then we can get some traction from some of the other victims," Olivia said.

"Well Lucia seemed reluctant but her mother did not. I think we could get her to testify. She's definitely more willing than Chaya or Zehra," Kenny said.

"Why don't we get Casey involved on that end? Fin, go see our lovely ADA. Elliot, Olivia, and Kenny get working on those names," Munch ordered. The phone in the Captain's office started ringing and he went to go answer it.

"What pile do you want Kenny?" Olivia asked.

"Pile?" He gave her a look.

"Yeah the buildings near Central Baptist, or the Old Broadway Synagogue, or the Harlem Islamic Cultural Center?" She smiled at him.

"I'll take the buildings near the Synagogue," he said.

"That leaves Central Baptist to me and the Islamic Cultural Center for Elliot," Olivia moved around her desk and got to work.


	22. Chapter 22

It would take almost a week to go through the building owners and track down possible former tenants. Forensics wasn't moving any faster either – there was a lot to process and separate. Munch had been hoping that the Captain would be reinstated but no word had come down yet.

"What have we got people?" The Sergeant asked just as they had started tucking into their lunches.

"We have finally have three of the last five victims identified but we can't file a charge. They are all outside the statute of limitations. The other two are still a mystery. No one recognizes them. It's possible that Gus did something to these girls not in New York City," Olivia said.

"The only thing left to do is to put out the info nationwide. See if anyone in another jurisdiction has possible cases. They deserve a crack at this asshole," Munch frowned.

"Yes they do," Elliot nodded.

"Any word from Casey?" Munch wanted to know.

"She is just waiting for forensics. She's having Chaya, Zehra, and Lucia come down to her office so they can all be in the same room. I think she's hoping that they'll realize they aren't alone and that will help them testify for the grand jury," Fin said.

"Perhaps it's time to go bug forensics. They have to have something," Kenny spoke up.

"Excellent idea. Kenny, why don't you and Fin head down there and give them what for? Elliot, get the MO out there for the rest of the country. Olivia, would you step into my office?" The Sergeant gave his orders. Elliot lifted an eyebrow at his partner and she gave him a look, indicating she had no idea what that was about.

"What's going on Munch?" Olivia asked once they were inside the Captain's office with the door closed.

"There is no easy way to say this but are you and Elliot… doing the horizontal tango?" He wanted to know. She gave him a look.

"I wouldn't ask these things but I have a little birdy who is claiming that part of the IAB investigations are focusing on claims made by a certain ex-wife…" he said.

"You've got to be kidding me," Olivia rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh.

"I know, I know and I really don't want to know the answer to the dancing question, but I figured I'd give you a heads up," Munch told her.

"I appreciate it. Truth be told, I've been helping with the kids as much as I can since the divorce. Kathy probably thinks I'm trying to replace her," she said.

"Could be. Doesn't explain why they are looking into Fin's son though," he said.

"That is weird. Any info on what they are looking at for Kenny?" Olivia wondered.

"Kenny seems to have nothing. Though if Lenny were still alive, they would probably try going that route," Munch frowned.

"Since when do you have a little birdy anyway?" She asked.

"Since apparently Tucker has a soft spot for this unit," he saw the look on her face – pure and utter disbelief.

"I had that same look, when I found out. Seems that this mess with the Judge has someone up the food chain gunning for the Captain and anyone else he can take with him," Munch explained. This time Olivia frowned. Then the desk phone rang. The Sergeant quickly answered it. The conversation was short and he was off almost as soon as he got on.

"Fin says forensics has something," he smiled.


	23. Chapter 23

"Ok so we analyzed every last scrap of evidence and this is what we came up with," CSU tech Rich explained. He had waited until Olivia and Elliot arrived to give everyone the information at the same time.

"I know these things take time but what was so hard about this one?" Elliot wanted to know.

"The samples were mixed – which isn't unusual when we're dealing with a sex crime. What took the longest was separating the clothing and getting Lucia to give us a sample. The clothing had dried and stuck together and we wanted to be sure we could get a prime sample. The blood and vaginal stains are all Lucia Garcia's. The semen is definitely Gus's. You have him nailed in that regard. The issue may come in with the other samples," Rich explained.

"Other samples?" Olivia gave him a look.

"Once we flattened out the dress we realized that the blood stain was larger than we expected. Not too shocking considering that the clothes were folded up on each other. However the more we looked at it, the more we grew concerned," he said.

"Why do I not like where this is going?" Kenny wanted to know.

"I'm guessing you won't. Lucia didn't go see a doctor did she?" Rich asked.

"Her mother didn't even know about the assault, so I would think not," Fin said. Rich frowned before he continued,

"We found extra tissue samples. It would seem that Lucia was pregnant. Not far enough along mind you to probably have known but it's the only thing that explains the blood." Olivia swallowed hard.

"Can you prove who the father was?" Elliot asked.

"The only other DNA we found belonged to Gus. Given her age and what probably happened to her, he was the father," the tech heaved a sigh. It was hard to picture.

"So he not only rapes her once but he does it again and causes a miscarriage. Good grief. Why did Lucia say anything?" Kenny asked.

"Well like I said, she might not have noticed she was pregnant and she certainly wasn't going to talk about it with her mom, since she already hid it from her," Rich said.

"Something is definitely off. Even if Lucia didn't know she was pregnant, she knew that she was assaulted more than once. She didn't mention the second time," Fin said.

"Maybe it was because we were two male detectives. Olivia, you think you could talk to her?" Kenny asked.

"It could be worth a shot. You think she's still at Casey's office?" Olivia wondered.

"I'll call Casey," Fin whipped out his phone and quickly dialed the number. The phone rang and rang. At first, he was going to hang up but then he heard the redhead's voice on the other end of the line. He quickly asked if Lucia and her mother were still there and she replied that they were. Fin then told her that forensics had made a discovery and that Lucia needed to be questioned some more. While he was on the phone, Elliot indicated to Olivia that they better get moving. Kenny held up his phone and then pointed at them, indicating they'd call once Fin was off the phone.

"Why would she lie about the second assault?" Elliot wondered once they were in the car and heading down the road.

"Considering the fact that Kenny said she fell apart after talking to them, I have no idea," Olivia frowned.

"Well I hope we can stop any more surprises before Casey goes to the grand jury. Gus is an animal. He can't be let out," her partner said.


	24. Chapter 24

"Lucia, you have to understand. The more we know the better. We're just trying to look out for you," Olivia told the teenager. Elliot had promised to wait outside while his partner and Casey spoke to the Garcias. Chaya and Zehra had already gone home with their parents before they started their conversation. Both seemed to be in better shape than they were previously. Finding out that they were not alone had made what happened to them seem a little less scary but only a little. At least there was someone else that would understand.

"I honestly didn't know. I just thought that I was having some sort of issue," Lucia argued.

"Even so, why didn't you tell Detectives Briscoe and Tutuola the whole story? You were never in trouble. You still aren't. The more facts we have, the better I can nail this guy to the wall and make sure he never hurts anyone ever again," Casey spoke up.

"I didn't think it mattered. You knew that he'd attacked me once. You had the evidence," she said.

"Yes but having Gus's attorney spring this on us at trial would not have been good. So going forward, we need to know everything. Even if it seemed small or not important – that something could lead us to another aspect of the crime. Now I think it's probably best that we get you checked out by a doctor. I know that it has been awhile but we don't want you to get sick," Olivia told her.

"We can't afford to go to the doctor. My healthcare plan has a high deductible. It was the only one I could afford and it was more for emergencies," Sophie spoke up.

"We can classify this as part of the investigation. The city will take care of it," Casey tried to reassure them. Olivia promised to take them directly to the hospital and the redhead agreed it was a good idea. So they got up and left, meeting Elliot in the hallway. Immediately, Olivia could tell that something was wrong but he didn't mention it when she told him that they needed to head to the hospital.

The drive over was mostly silent and filled with tension between the two partners. Olivia wondered what was wrong and Elliot wanted to tell her but knew it wasn't a good idea in front of the Garcias. Once they reached the hospital, Elliot promised to meet them upstairs. Olivia directed the two ladies to the admitting desk where Nurse Susan Park immediately recognized the detective and directed her to go straight up to the third floor. As they headed for the nearby elevators that were just down the hall, there was some shouting in the waiting room. Olivia told the Garcias to go ahead and she'd be right behind them.

At the admitting desk, a man was shouting at the nice nurse who had just directed her to the elevator a moment or two before. Her first instinct was to reach for her weapon but she reached for her badge instead.

"Do we have a problem here?" She asked, flashing her badge for all to see.

"I certainly hope not," Elliot was right there, having just walked in from the parking lot. He held his badge out as well.

"Mr. Alvarez was just going to take a seat," Nurse Park said.

"Excellent," Elliot smirked and the man who had been upset frowned but said nothing and returned to his seat. Undoubtedly, he'd been waiting for hours to be seen and then to have three ladies buzz passed the admission desk had made his already frayed calm, explode. Olivia pointed her head toward the elevators and the two headed over to the nearest one. She poked the up button and an elevator car soon arrived. Once inside the partners found themselves alone and Elliot spilled what he'd found out.

"So one of the last two victims popped up in the nationwide search," he said.

"Where is she? Did she relocate?" Olivia asked.

"You could say that. New Jersey reported her missing twenty years ago," he told her.

"You don't think he has her hostage somewhere do you?" She gave him a look. They both vividly remembered the Lauren Molby case. Poor Lauren had spent twenty-five years in Gregory Searle's cabin.

"I have no idea," Elliot admitted.


	25. Chapter 25

The next morning, Elliot and Olivia walked into the precinct, and they could see that the Captain's door was closed. Elliot looked at Kenny and the younger man just shrugged. Fin walked in a moment later and had the same look on his face as the other detectives.

"He's had the door closed since I got here," Kenny said.

"So while we're waiting, what happened with Lucia yesterday?" Fin asked.

"Yeah, we kind of expected a phone call. Especially since we dropped that little bomb about one of our last two victims," Kenny reminded them.

"Lucia wasn't in much of a frame of mind to talk. She's not exactly old enough to be visiting the gynecologist and this was a lot to deal with. On top of that, she was dealing with the fact that she had been pregnant and now wasn't," Olivia admitted as she took a seat behind her desk.

"I ended up taking Sophie to the hospital chapel to pray and sit with and Olivia was holding Lucia's hand during the exam," Elliot explained as he too sat down at his desk.

"Geez," Fin frowned.

"Did the doctor find anything?" Kenny asked.

"Well given her age and Gus's age, they were concerned about permanent damage, especially since Lucia had a miscarriage. Nothing was apparent from the exam but they performed an ultrasound to double check for internal damage and promised to get back to us. They also took blood samples so they could make sure she didn't have any STDs. Lucia also got a referral for a therapist but given their financial situation, I'm not sure how that will play out," Olivia heaved a sigh.

"Is there someone we can find to help her?" Fin wanted to know.

"I'm calling Huang," Elliot said, picking up his desk phone. The others thought it was a good idea so while he was busy on the phone, they turned their attention to the Captain's office which Munch was currently occupying.

"It can't be Tucker, there's no shouting," Fin said.

"Could it be someone up the chain of command? I mean the only reason they'd be in there that long would be because he's getting his butt chewed out," Olivia frowned.

"That's the last thing we need. If they take Munch out of command, we're all in trouble," Kenny shook his head.

"You'll be reassigned before you can ask why," Olivia nodded. That's when the door opened and out walked an elderly couple with someone that they didn't recognize. Munch announced,

"This is Mr. and Mrs. Carter, parents of Julie, and this is Detective Bill Manning from New Jersey State Police. He took over Julie's case." The names were now familiar. Julie was the missing girl from twenty years ago and Detective Manning's name was on the report to be notified if there was new information.

"Sergeant Munch was explaining you think that you've found someone who might have harmed our Julie," Mrs. Carter spoke up.

"Possibly, we're looking into him for a string of crimes here in the city," Olivia explained.

"I'm here to help. The Carters wanted to meet the people who would be helping to find Julie," Manning smiled slightly.

"I promised them a ride back to their hotel. Kenny, would you mind?" Munch asked. Kenny nodded and smiled at the couple before standing up from his desk and leading them out of the room. Elliot was just off the phone and introductions were quickly made.

"We read the file. Tell us what you think," Fin said.

"Well Julie was a good kid from all accounts. Detective Samuels gave me all of his notes when he retired and I have to admit, he didn't think she was the type to look for trouble," Manning sighed.

"Could we speak to Detective Samuels?" Olivia asked.

"Only if you have a Ouija Board. Lou passed away five years ago. Cancer," Manning frowned. It was obvious that the Detective knew and worked with the original detective on the case.

"Sorry to hear it. What do you think based off of your experience?" Elliot wondered.

"Julie was walking home from school after the bus dropped her at the corner of a street just a few blocks from her house. It was a standard thing to do with a large neighborhood mostly made up of dead ends. She never made it home. Her best friend who lived a few blocks over was the last one to see her. No one seemed to notice a car that was out of place or anything like that. Given how long it's been, I have to admit, Julie's more than likely passed away and probably not from natural causes," Manning said.

"It has been a long time but we just had a kidnapping victim turn up alive after twenty-five years," Munch told him.

"It has been known to happen but if Julie got near a phone or got a chance to get away from whoever took her, she would have. I would like to give the Carter's some closure even if it's not the kind that comes with good news," the New Jersey Detective said.

"Well let's see what we can do," Fin said.


	26. Chapter 26

"You do realize that if we can pin anything on Gus for Julie Carter that the Feds might want in. Especially if we find her in New York and not New Jersey," Elliot said.

"Yes and I'm sure my ADA will want the case just as bad as yours will. You guys have quite the list of crimes that Gus has committed in your jurisdiction. I'd be inclined to say that you'd win that pissing match, unless the Feds get ahold of him, that is," Bill told him. It was almost lunch time and Fin had started digging around for menus in his desk drawer.

"What's everybody in the mood for? And don't say catching a pedophile. Everybody has got to eat," he asked the group.

"I'm not fussy. Bill, how do you think that Gus got Julie to get close enough to his car? I mean she'd be old enough to know not to get into a stranger's car but Gus's records don't put him living near her neighborhood," Olivia asked the New Jersey Detective.

"I couldn't figure that out. Neither could Lou. Of course we didn't have a suspect but no one thought the car was odd, so we figured it wouldn't be a flashy car. Something that was fairly common. It's possible she thought it was one of her neighbors and when she got to the window realized it wasn't," Manning suggested.

"Gus does know how to hide in plain sight. The school bus was probably why he was down in that neighborhood. We know his type and we know that where he was living was not far from the church that Julie and her parents attended. So he picks his victim out and then just has to find a time when she wasn't with anyone. We also know that Gus is meticulous when it comes to details. So when the heat got turned up, he wouldn't have to worry," Munch said.

"I'm ordering something with anchovies if people don't focus," Fin spoke up. Olivia gagged and the group quickly agreed to sandwiches from the deli down the street. Fin called in their order and the delivery would be made within the hour.

"Run down what Julie's schedule was. Maybe there was a time that Gus could have figured out where she lived without chasing all the school busses around," Fin said when he got off the phone.

"Ok so the bus picks her up for school at six-forty-five, it then drops her off at school by seven-fifteen. She spends all day in school and gets back on the bus at two-ten. She should have been at her house by two-forty-five, two-fifty. She never makes it," Manning played it out.

"What time did she actually get off the bus?" Kenny asked.

"According to the bus driver, usual time, about two-forty. The ten minute window depended on if she hung out with her friend a few extra minutes. That's why Mrs. Carter started to panic when Julie wasn't home by three," Bill explained.

"And by five when they called the police, everyone was out of their minds," Munch nodded.

"Exactly. They had thoroughly searched the neighborhood and involved their neighbor and no one saw or heard anything. It was like the earth had swallowed her up," Bill said.

"You didn't have a suspect before and Gus had never committed a murder that we know of. All of his victims were left alive, which is actually more risky than killing them. Hell, the only reason we caught him is because he got sloppy after being in prison for ten years," Elliot frowned.

"So maybe what happened to Julie was an accident. Maybe he intended to drop her somewhere dazed and confused and instead she dies," Kenny suggested.

"And with Gus's penchant for operating under the radar, he did the only thing he could do, he cleaned up and made the body disappear," Olivia said.

"Well I think that the first thing we need to do is investigate where he used to live. It's been a long time but it might help us narrow down our thoughts," Elliot said.

"I wish we could. The apartment building burned down six months after Julie disappeared. It didn't have any sprinklers; they weren't required at the time, so by the time the fire fighters responded a good portion of the building was already engulfed. They fought hard but it was a lost cause and it was demolished. Two years later, a new building had been put in its place. If they had found a body, they would have reported it," Bill explained.

"Well apartments have to have garbage pickup," Fin said as he stood from his desk. The delivery man had just arrived and the detective went for his wallet and pulled out some money. The others quickly chipped in their portion and then the food was handed out.

"They didn't have a dumpster and no way that any of his neighbors didn't notice a body in those seventy gallon totes," Manning shook his head. Then something occurred to him and he asked,

"Kenny, can you punch up the neighborhood where Gus used to live?" The younger man nodded and quickly pulled up the map of the place online.

"What is it?" Olivia wanted to know.

"I was afraid of that," Manning frowned.

"Half a mile away from Gus's place is a Home Depot," Kenny's eyes were wide.

"It was a big deal when I was growing up. They were a relatively new company back then and they opened that store a few months before Julie disappeared," Bill frowned again.

"We know what happened to Julie's body then. He dumped her in the dumpsters at the hardware store and she ended up in some landfill somewhere," Elliot heaved a sigh.

"There is no way to prove Gus did any of this. Hell, the Easter Bunny could have done it," Fin said.

"Well I'm not giving up. After lunch, I'll head home and see if we can't track down Gus's path before the building burned to the ground. Maybe we'll get lucky," Manning seemed to be glad to just have a lead.

"We all hope you find something. In the meantime, I think it's time to have a chat with Casey. If we can start the ball rolling with the new charges against Gus then at least we'll buy you some more time to find Julie," Olivia told him.


	27. Chapter 27

Casey had a smirk on her face as she read the Grand Jury slip handed to her. She had had to put Lucia through the wringer on the stand but she'd held up and her bravery had inspired Chaya and Zehra to also speak up. Having three victims and confirmation of the DNA had made it a lot easier to try and convince the jurors that Gus needed to be locked up. Grabbing her cell phone, she put a call into Olivia.

"Benson,"

"Liv, its Casey. The grand jury indicted. I'll have the notice to the Department of Corrections by the end of business today. Would you give Lucia, Chaya, and Zehra a call so they know?" The redhead asked.

"More than happy to. Maybe we can use this as leverage to find out what happened to Julie Carter," Olivia told her.

"I'm hoping. If not, at least Gus won't be getting out of jail any time soon," with that she ended the call and headed back to her office. She had some work to do between the paperwork for the Department of Corrections and on her own end to get Gus into court for arraignment.

"Our ADA got the indictment," Elliot told Bill Manning. He figured the New Jersey detective should know.

"That's great news. Hopefully that can translate into something for Julie," he said.

"That's what we're hoping. We're willing to bet that if he didn't kill Julie, he'd sing like a bird. On the other hand, if he did kill Julie, we might be able to convince him that the Feds would not take too kindly to the charges and make sure that he gets the maximum, which would be death by lethal injection," Elliot explained.

"I will keep digging and I appreciate the heads up. Let's hope that the threat is enough. The Carters have suffered long enough," Manning said.

"Agreed. Good luck," with that Elliot hung up the phone. Kenny was still on the phone as was Fin but Olivia was not. Still she had a look on her face, which told him she wasn't happy about something.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Munch mouthed from the Captain's office something about Tucker," she frowned.

"Oh boy," Elliot heaved a sigh.

"So should I be brushing up on my resume? Uncle Lenny would have been very upset if I lost my job over something I didn't even do. He always said that I should be better than him," Kenny had just gotten off the phone with Chaya's parents and had heard the last part of the conversation.

"Might not hurt," Olivia heaved a sigh.

"Why all the gloomy faces?" Fin had just gotten off the phone with Zehra's parents.

"In a word, Tucker," Elliot said.

"Oh brother," Fin shook his head.

"So, have our victims been notified?" Munch asked as he walked out of the Captain's office.

"Yes and they all seem to be happy that Gus will be looking at more jail time. Unless I misjudged how Fin and Kenny's phone calls went," Olivia said.

"No, everything is good on my end. Zehra's parents were reluctant to have her do this but I'm beginning to believe that they found it is helping their daughter," Fin told them.

"Efraim Rabinowitz was given a reprieve by both the Terzis and the Justice System. The DA has had him committed to Bellevue for psychological help and in six months, if the doctors think he's made progress then they'll release him. In the meantime, it would seem that Sarah and Abdul's families are getting along despite the trouble," Munch let them know.

"Well that is good news. Now if we could just get Tucker to give us some…" Elliot trailed off.


	28. Chapter 28

Olivia turned the keys in the lock and opened her apartment door. Quickly moving inside, her partner was right behind her. The door was shut and locked and shoes and coats were shucked off.

"I'm starving," Olivia said.

"The delivery guy should be here soon. Glad we called on the way," Elliot smirked as he went into the fridge and pulled out a couple of beers.

"Why is there still no food in your fridge?" He asked, standing up.

"Well let's see when we eat, we either get take out or are doing our eating in the bedroom so…" she smirked from her spot near the dining table. She was setting down her bag.

"Don't get me started! I'm looking forward to that Chinese! And maybe some dessert later," Elliot tossed a bottle cap at her after opening the beer bottles, waggling his eyebrows. Olivia laughed, batting the bottle cap away. A knock on the door signaled that their dinner had arrived.

After paying the delivery boy, the two tucked into their food. At first, they were quiet, a sign that they both had been very hungry. A pause in the action came when Olivia went for a soy sauce packet.

"So you really think it's over?" She asked.

"I know that Tucker is asking us to trust him, which makes me uncomfortable, but by Monday we'll have our Captain back so I'm not sure. Basically, the guys at the two seven can't seem to find any connections to the victims of the Judge and William Jeffson, despite his claims. The guy lies like he breathes so anything he says is now in question. At any rate, Jeffson will be convicted of killing the Judge. He's already admitted to the poisoning," Elliot said.

"Yeah that isn't tied up in a bow at all," Olivia shook her head.

"Nope," he agreed. That's when his partner's phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and answered it,

"Benson." There was a pause and the look on Olivia's face told him that something was up.

"Seriously? He expects that you believe that?" She asked the person on the other end. Elliot put down his chopsticks, now very interested in what was going on in the conversation.

"Ok. We'll make sure we call Detective Manning in the morning. Thanks Casey," with that the call ended.

"What was that about?" Elliot asked.

"Well it would seem that either Gus is trying to play a game with us or he is the most unlucky bastard on the planet," Olivia shook her head before continuing, "According to Gus, he freely admits to assaulting Julie Carter. What he doesn't admit to is killing her."

"So it just so happens that he was the last person to see her and he didn't kill her?" He cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah exactly but here's something which I thought was weird. Gus says that he got her into the car, claiming that his puppy was missing. Julie didn't get into the car but got close enough that he threatened to shoot her, if she didn't get into the back seat. He said that he had just painted a water gun to look like a real gun. So she gets in and he drives away to a secluded place to attack her. Once it's all over, he drives her to a bus stop, up the street from the new Home Depot," Olivia explained.

"Really?" Elliot wasn't so sure that he believed Gus's story.

"So why would he bother to try to cover up a murder since he copped to the assault and just cut a deal with Casey for the assaults of Lucia, Chaya, and Zehra?" She wondered.

"He's already going to jail, so what difference would it make?" He nodded.

"Exactly," Olivia said.


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little reminder that this is not taking place in current times. We're closer to almost ten years ago.

"So you believe this wanker?" Detective Manning asked. Elliot had invited him for another powwow at the one-six the next day and to see if they could help him. Now they sat around trying to figure out what was next.

"It does sound like a bunch of crap but he's already admitted to assaulting her and he admitted to assaulting Lucia, Chaya, and Zehra. Those admissions put him in jail for a long time so admitting to killing Julie would actually help him, in that Casey offered to have the sentences run concurrently, not consecutively," Olivia explained.

"I see what you mean. So say we actually believe this sicko. Why wouldn't Julie go home? She was blocks away," Manning heaved a sigh.

"We were wondering the same thing," Kenny spoke up.

"I hate to suggest the elephant in the room but what if she did?" Fin wondered. It was a sobering thought.

"You think her parents killed her?" Munch gave his partner a look.

"It's not unheard of. She comes home, obviously, physically a mess. Maybe it was an accident. Dad is mad. He strikes her. She falls and hits her head. She's dead and now Dad needs to get rid of the body," Fin said.

"Religiously speaking, some who are devout, view sex, of any kind, especially before marriage to be against their beliefs. Though it isn't as common nowadays, with the exceptions being outside of this country in highly religious countries, women have been killed for not being virgins. We all know that women get blamed for being assaulted. Perhaps for Mr. Carter, it was a double whammy," Elliot frowned and turned to Manning, "You or Detective Samuels ever get a vibe from the Dad?"

"Lou never mentioned it. Though when I went to the house to tell them you guys might have had something, they were both surprised. Given how long it's been though, I didn't think anything of it," he admitted.

"We may be putting the cart before the horse. Remember whose mouth this is coming out of," Olivia reminded them.

"You have a point but you also had a good one about Gus's deal," Kenny said.

"So what evidence could be left for us to find after all these years?" Munch wondered.

"Any security camera footage has long been written over. What are the chances that we get lucky with Home Depot workers?" Fin had an unbelieving look on his face.

"Yeah we're going to need some help and I have just the idea. My last act as commander of the unit. Get forensics on the horn," Munch winked. He disappeared into the Captain's office and Olivia looked at Elliot who just shrugged.

"The picture on your screen is a picture of Julie Carter, when she went missing twenty years ago in New Jersey. We are working on a joint task force with the New Jersey State Police after new evidence has been uncovered regarding what happened to her. If you remember something that might help the case or have seen someone resembling this age progressed picture now on the screen, please call Manhattan Special Victims Unit at the phone number shown. Please help us bring Julie home. Thank you," Munch announced in his Sergeant's uniform, three hours later on the evening newscast.

"You think we'll get lucky?" Olivia asked her partner as they watched the elder detective.

"Well given the likelihood that she's probably already dead, probably not but since they are broadcasting this in New Jersey as well, maybe someone has a lead for us," Elliot shrugged. Munch ended the work in front of the cameras and headed toward them.

"Here's hoping that worked," Munch said.

"If it doesn't, Julie's case may never be solved," Elliot frowned.


	30. Chapter 30

Weeks went by and the unit moved onto other cases. The tips had flooded in at first but everything turned out to amount to nothing and now all tips were being directed to Detective Manning exclusively. Olivia hated that they had come so close to getting justice only to be left with another mystery waiting to be solved.

Elliot had interviewed Gus again and the man had stuck to his story. He even admitted to keeping an eye on the story in the news afraid that if it ever came back to him, he'd be in big trouble. The convict went a step further and said that before his apartment building burned down, he would still see Julie's parents going to church. Pressing him more about the fire, Gus admitted that he had been home when it started and was glad that he'd been able to grab his trinkets and photos before he escaped. With Julie's disappearance in the news, he'd put all of those items in one spot which made them easy to grab. Elliot had been frustrated but he couldn't see Gus lying about any of that, especially since they still had Julie's photo.

"It's Friday right?" The Captain asked. It had been a long week.

"Yes it is," Kenny smiled.

"Everybody caught up on their paperwork?" Cragen wanted to know.

"I still have a little bit that I need to finish, if my stupid computer would stop locking up," Fin frowned. He'd been pounding on the keyboard for the last few minutes. Olivia got up from her desk to see if she could help.

"Something on your mind Cap?" Elliot asked, curious as to why his superior officer was asking.

"Well if we're all real quiet, maybe, just maybe," he said, jerking his head toward the exit door. It had been awhile since anyone had had the weekend off. Elliot nodded and began cleaning up his desk. Kenny was already ahead of him, probably had a hot date for the evening.

"You're a life saver, Liv," Fin said as she managed to get the computer to stop freezing without him losing his work. He quickly saved it before something else bad happened.

"Where'd Munch get to? I thought he said he was going for coffee like an hour ago," Olivia was surprised that he wasn't back yet.

"He wanted to check in on the Rabinowitz's. See how they were doing. I told him to take the rest of the day," Cragen said. Olivia nodded and quickly cleaned up her desk, shutting down her computer. Kenny stood from his desk, tilted his head and gave the Captain a quick salute with his index and middle fingers and was out the door. Fin stood up, heaving a sigh of relief. His paperwork was done. He shut everything down and gave a wave to the rest of the group.

Elliot and Olivia started heading for the door after giving the Captain a smile. They were in the elevator when Elliot got a call. He heaved a sigh and answered it. The voice on the other end was garbled and once the elevator landed, he quickly got off so the quality of the call would improve.

"You really think so?" He asked the person on the other end. Olivia raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, we'll check it out. Talk to you soon," with that the call ended.

"What did you just sign us up for?" Olivia asked.

"Probably just another wild goose chase. Manning says he got a tip that Julie is in a nursing home getting rehab after her knee replacement," Elliot said.

"That's right up there with the psychic who thought that Julie was living upstate raising goats. The story has been all over the news for weeks and this person is just now thinking its Julie?" His partner gave him a look.

"Well the place is on the way to the place I wanted to take you for dinner so what can it hurt?" Elliot asked.

"Nothing. I want justice for her just as much as you do. If it's really her, then I know at least a few people who will sleep better tonight," Olivia said. They made their way to the car and then down to the rehab facility. Walking inside, they wondered how they would find the person that Manning had said gave the tip.

"I'm Detective Benson and this is my partner, Detective Stabler, NYPD. We got a tip that one of your patients could be the missing person we've been looking for," Olivia said to the receptionist as they flashed their badges.

"No way. I didn't think anyone would really take me seriously," the younger woman said. Her nametag read "Beth" on it.

"Well we take all tips seriously," Elliot said.

"I hope I'm right then. I've been struggling with calling, not wanting to waste anyone's time if I was wrong but she's checking out today and you might lose her if I'm right," Beth said. She picked up the phone and called to someone who promised to be out to watch the desk momentarily. Then Beth grabbed a file and handed it to Olivia.

"I shouldn't be showing you this but it's the admissions packet I had to fill out. Anything seem like it would match?" The woman asked. Olivia quickly glanced at the vital stats. Age and height seemed right but the name was not Julie Carter.

"She lives in the city?" Olivia asked quickly handing the file back as the person Beth had called rounded a nearby corner.

"Yes but I've heard her talk about New Jersey so I figured that that had to be something," Beth admitted. Once the woman the receptionist called took her place. Beth led the detectives down the hallway, using her ID badge to get them behind the closed doors. Through the hallways they went until they reached a wing labelled "C". There the nurse at the desk noticed Beth and asked,

"Something going on, I should know about?"

"Where is Samantha Rodriguez?" Beth asked.

"Her husband Julio just went down to help her get her things," the nurse gave her a look.

"Thanks!" With that Beth was off and the two detectives followed.

"Oh Beth. I was hoping to see you on the way out. I finished that book you lent me," Samantha smiled and went to reach into the box that Julio had just placed on her lap. Elliot pulled the age progressed photo out of his jacket pocket and his eyes grew large. He passed the photo to Olivia and she had a similar reaction.

"Who are these two lovely people you brought with you?" Julio was looking nervous.

"We're Detectives Benson and Stabler from Manhattan SVU. This may sound weird but do you know a Julie Carter?" Elliot asked as they flashed their badges. It looked like Julio wanted to say something but his wife stopped him.

"I haven't heard that name in many years," Julie swallowed.

"Well I'm needed back at the desk. I'll see you on your way out," Beth smiled as she quickly left the room. Julio offered them seats in the chairs near the bed and he sat down on the bed, taking his wife's hand in his.

"We have so many questions," Olivia said.

"We found the man who attacked you. He's in jail," Olivia said. Julie breathed a sigh of relief.

"You have no idea how good it is to hear that," she told them.

"We can imagine but why didn't you go home? Your parents…" Elliot didn't get a chance to finish.

"My father… I couldn't…" Julie shook her head, tears threatened to spill down her cheeks. Her husband quickly handed her a tissue and squeezed her hand.

"I was driving a bus back then. When I saw her at the bus stop, I knew I couldn't leave her there. I helped her onto the bus and was going to call dispatch but since I couldn't get to tell me what happened, I worried that the reason she was at the bus stop was because of something that happened at home. So instead I asked one of my regular riders to look out for her until I could get her to the hospital. She agreed and I proceeded to blow passed every stop I was supposed to make until we got there.

"The nurse gave me a look when I tried to explain what happened. She wanted to call her parents but I explained my concerns so she said that she still needed to call police. So I agreed that was a good idea but when the police got there they were hostile towards her. She started to cry and then they turned on me. They thought I had done something to her. The nurse told them to stop upsetting her patient and to come back tomorrow. When they left and after the nurse walked away, I made the decision that shaped the rest of our lives," Julio explained.

"You went into hiding," Olivia said.

"I took her home without checking her out of the hospital. When her parents came on TV to plead for her to come home, I thought that maybe I could take her home. They seemed like nice people and they obviously seemed like they cared. That's when she told me what had happened to her and why she couldn't go home," he told them.

"We met your parents. They seemed like nice people. Why couldn't you go home Julie?" Elliot asked.

"My father took his Bible teaching very seriously but only when they suited his needs. He'd remind me of the rules when he would beat me. I didn't get an A on my homework or I didn't put all of the dishes away. My mother was powerless to stop him and it would get worse when he would get drunk, which was often. She kept saying that I had to understand. That what he'd seen in the war had forever changed him. He wasn't like that when he married her. I figured if I came home and tried to tell him that I had been raped that he would make sure I'd end up underneath the tree in the backyard," Julie explained.

"So you two just packed up and left in case the police came looking for Julio. Changing your identities as you went," Olivia said.

"We did," the Hispanic man nodded.

"He was so kind and so gentle and he never raised his voice to me. He took care of me. Never asked anything of me, told me that I was not obligated to him. He just wanted me to be better before striking out on my own. By the time I was feeling better, I didn't want to go anywhere I wanted to stay with him," she told them. Olivia nodded. Obviously, they cared for each other and the man had gone to extreme lengths to keep her safe.

"Do you have to tell her parents?" Julio asked. It was a tough question but Elliot had an idea. He whipped out his phone and placed a call.

"Hey it's Stabler. Yeah the lead was another dead end," the person on the other end said something and Elliot said,

"You've done all you could. Lou would have been proud." There were a few more words tossed around before the call ended.

"Now, the decision is yours to make. You two have a great weekend," Elliot smiled and stood up. Olivia followed suit and gave them a smile before they headed out the door.

"Did we do the right thing?" She asked once they were down the hall.

"We tell the receptionist that it was a false alarm and then everything goes back to the way things were. Personally, if I could I'd arrest the father," Elliot frowned.

"Yeah me too," Olivia agreed. They continued down the hallway telling Beth that it was an old friend of Julie's and not actually Julie. She apologized for wasting their time but they told her that they were glad she called. Once outside, they hopped into the car and headed to get some dinner.

"Julio certainly went to extremes to protect Julie didn't he?" Elliot could hear the gears in his partner's head turning.

"He did but I don't think that Julie was wrong about her dad. More than once my mother got drunk enough that I thought I was going to end up dead. I believe she felt she had no other choice. Julio dropped his entire life for her. To be honest, if someone had done that for me, when I was her age, I would not have thought twice about leaving home and never coming back," she said. He nodded thoughtfully before grabbing her hand and kissing the back of it.

"I love you," Elliot said.

"And I love you," she smiled at him. Love was a funny thing but it always found a way and Olivia knew that she was glad that Julie had found it.

**The End**


End file.
